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By Thomas Gerbasi - It was the Christmas gift to end all Christmas gifts.
“Of all-time,” Steve Cunningham smiles, one of many he has these days. It’s not the demeanor normally associated with a prizefighter a few days out from a pivotal fight, but the U.S. Navy veteran is no typical fighter and the story of what he and his family have gone through over the last nine years transcends anything that happens in the ring.
As has been well-documented, Cunningham and his wife Livvy’s now nine-year-old daughter Kennedy was born with a congenital heart defect where the left side of the organ was unable to function. In the hospital for the first year of her life, her prognosis was not good, but like her father, she never stopped fighting. Eventually though, the Cunninghams were told to prepare for life without their daughter.
They got a second opinion, and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh put Kennedy on their list for a heart transplant. The only catch was that the family needed to move from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh because in cases like this, there was only going to be a four-hour window to get Kennedy into surgery.
After hearing the story, the boxing community responded, raising over $30,000 to aid the family and get them to Pittsburgh. On December 5th of last year, they got the call. Hours later, the surgery was successful and Kennedy Cunningham had a new lease on life. [Click Here To Read More]
“Of all-time,” Steve Cunningham smiles, one of many he has these days. It’s not the demeanor normally associated with a prizefighter a few days out from a pivotal fight, but the U.S. Navy veteran is no typical fighter and the story of what he and his family have gone through over the last nine years transcends anything that happens in the ring.
As has been well-documented, Cunningham and his wife Livvy’s now nine-year-old daughter Kennedy was born with a congenital heart defect where the left side of the organ was unable to function. In the hospital for the first year of her life, her prognosis was not good, but like her father, she never stopped fighting. Eventually though, the Cunninghams were told to prepare for life without their daughter.
They got a second opinion, and the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh put Kennedy on their list for a heart transplant. The only catch was that the family needed to move from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh because in cases like this, there was only going to be a four-hour window to get Kennedy into surgery.
After hearing the story, the boxing community responded, raising over $30,000 to aid the family and get them to Pittsburgh. On December 5th of last year, they got the call. Hours later, the surgery was successful and Kennedy Cunningham had a new lease on life. [Click Here To Read More]
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