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When Andrea Jaeger played on the women's professional tennis tour, she won 10 singles titles, reached the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, and was ranked as high as number two in the world. But that's now why Andrea is a hero. She's a hero because of what she's accomplished in the years since she was a professional tennis player and yet the two are tied together.
Andrea founded the Silver Lining Foundation in 1990 to bring the enjoyment of childhood to kids with life-threatening or life-altering diseases through programs that include camp-like experiences in Aspen, Colorado. Formerly called Kids Stuff, the Silver Lining Foundation recently opened and hosted its first two seven-day camps at an 11-room ranch house on 10 acres of donated land in Aspen. Much thought was put into the decoration of the ranch and Andrea describes it as a cross between Disney World and "Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." "It's a place where kids with cancer can have fun and play. We have extra-wide hallways and an elevator for those in wheelchairs. There are a lot of features other places might not have," says Andrea.
Andrea started the foundation in 1990 after a shoulder injury and a subsequent car accident (in which she was hit by a drunk driver) ended her tennis career at the early age of 21. When asked how she came up with the idea, she answered that it came out of her tennis days.
"When I was on the tennis circuit, I used to visit hospitals," says Andrea. "One year I was visiting the Helen Hayes Hospital outside of New York City. I went into the play room where there was a group of kids. There was a boy who had lost both of his hands, a girl who had an IV attached to her and
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another girl who had a bald head from chemotherapy. They were all running around that room as if they were normal, healthy kids. I had grown up hitting tennis balls and having thousands of people cheer for me and I was watching these kids in the play room, with no
one watching, appreciating life in a way that was really special. Those kids really taught me something about how appreciative you should be for every day you have."
Andrea did a lot of research to find out whether another foundation or organization for children with cancer was needed. "I didn't want to duplicate what was already out there," says Andrea. The original idea was to bring fun and opportunity to children with diseases, and to do it in an environment where they didn't feel like outcasts.
"When I played tennis I was very young so I didn't really fit in," says Andrea. "What I saw of kids in hospitals was that they had a similar feeling kids and hospitals just don't go together. So I try to get them out of the hospital and give them some of the enjoyment
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back. We take them white-water rafting, skiing, teach them tennis."
The tennis community has been very supportive of Andrea and her foundation, which was launched originally with money she had won playing tennis. "John McEnroe was the first to donate time and money and has been great. He talked to people and said, 'help her out.' Since then, the players have seen what we've tried to do and have been supportive."
The interesting thing about Andrea's new life is that it's brought her closer to her old life. "I grew up hating locker rooms. I went straight from junior high to the professional tennis tour. I didn't know anything I didn't even know I supposed to sit down during changeovers. I never felt that I fit in and didn't really understand the impact of beating a Billie Jean King or a Chris Evert."
But things have changed and now Andrea appreciates the special access her tennis connections allow. "When I take the Silver Lining kids to Wimbledon, for instance, I can tell them how the special towels are in the upper locker room. I show them the press room and the lunch room and it's fun," says Andrea. "I don't remember even eating in the players lunch room. Now I'm there all the time with the kids. I was a part of something so special and then it was over. But now I enjoy it more because I'm there with the kids."
Andrea Jaeger never expected her days as a hero would only begin after her days as a competitor had ended.
Rosey's Heroes will be nominated for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association Heroes Awards. To contact Rosey Grier or Andrea Jaeger or to suggest a hero, visit www.rosey.org. (photo)
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