Column: Cancer survivor Linda Welby plans to return to Mighty 1090 airwaves in January
The voice of Linda Welby hasn’t been heard much on The Mighty 1090 radio’s “Scott and BR Show” since July. The absence of the radio sports talk program’s only female voice can’t easily be ignored. And it isn’t. Her name is regularly mentioned.
After Welby discovered she had breast cancer last June and reported for surgery in July, she and her radio colleagues Scott Kaplan and Billy Ray Smith, who had her studio painted bright pink, have updated listeners on her medical journey and recovery. And she sometimes joins in remotely from home.
In fact, her co-workers are participating in the Susan G. Komen cancer run that kicks off in Balboa Park Nov. 4 as members of her Team #Lindastrong. Welby, 53, will undergo her final chemo treatment on Nov. 1. Nevertheless, she hopes to be at the race, too. The mother of two expects to return to her job at the station early next year after follow-up radiation treatment.
Meanwhile, an anonymous donor has agreed to match all donations made in her team’s name to the Susan G. Komen race for the cure.
In a strange way, the disease has opened doors. She has been inundated by warm and supportive calls, letters, cards and messages on Facebook and Twitter. One listener, himself a cancer patient, has been her online cheerleader throughout. “I’ve never met him, but I feel like I know him,” she says.
Plus, an angel donor gave Welby, a Boston native, four tickets to the World Series game last Saturday in Los Angeles. She sheepishly admits she had never been to Dodger Stadium.
When Welby arrived with her son, her nephew and a friend, they discovered it was MLB’s cancer recognition day, and a touching moment of silence was observed after the fifth inning.
When they walked into the stadium, all the seats contained Stand Up To Cancer placards announcing “I Stand Up For” with a space in which a term was filled in, such as “Those We’ve Lost,” “Loved Ones,” “Friends in the Fight,” “Family Members” and “Researchers.”
Welby did a double take when she saw what was written on the placard randomly placed on her seat. It said: “Survivors.”
Lights out: The ABC Youth Foundation found a perfect fundraiser venue for at-risk students in its after-school boxing and tutoring program: Punch Bowl Social. The East Village restaurant opened last June in the former Federal Athletic Club where world champion boxer Archie Moore had sparred for decades.
It’s been transformed into a Chuck E. Cheese for grown-ups with bowling alleys, bocce ball courts, karaoke rooms, shuffle board, arcade games, food service and a full bar, along with a few original arena seats, bleachers and boxing match ticket windows.
The punching bags will return on Nov. 3 as kids, joined by police officers and firefighters, hit the heavy bags in a ritualistic display of punching out gang violence, racism and mistrust of law enforcement.
It’s fitting that Archie Moore’s son, Billie Moore, who runs the foundation, will be on hand for the event, which begins at noon.
Just call him Adm. MacGyver: Among U.S. Naval Academy fans attending its football match against Notre Dame last Saturday was Rear Adm. Yancy Lindsey, who, as commander of the Navy Region Southwest, is recognized as the unofficial “Navy mayor” of San Diego.
From the Holiday Bowl Game Association’s stadium box, Lindsey spotted football analyst Rick Neuheisel sitting in the adjacent broadcast booth. Since they were separated by a wall and couldn’t converse, Lindsey wrote a note reminding Neuheisel that they had played football against one another in college. Instead of having the message delivered next door, though, he simply held it up against the glass window between them and tried to attract Neuheisel’s attention. It worked.
A bit of Halloween-related trivia: Lindsey’s military pilot nickname is “Lurch.” Thankfully, it’s due to his deep, resonating voice and not any physical resemblance to “The Addams Family” manservant.
Speaking of Halloween: The Helen Woodward Animal Center has a sweet deal. It’s offering trick-or-treaters age 12 and under a discount on pet adoption fees from Nov. 1-4 in exchange for their Halloween candy (with parental approval, of course).
Every 50 pieces of candy brought in earn $10 off (up to a maximum of $80, or 400 candies, for adoption of a dog, and up to $50, or 250 candies, for a cat). The shelter has named these orphaned pets “the candy critters.”
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