Three kids stepped up to a hand-built bell at Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday and rang it in front of a full stadium, marking the end of their cancer treatment. Eight-year-old Tanner and six-year-old Sadie were joined by a third child, Edric, for the between-innings ceremony during the White Sox's game against the Minnesota Twins, and the crowd gave all three a standing ovation.
The moment was part of Childhood Cancer Awareness Day, presented by CIBC, which the White Sox hosted at the South Side ballpark, according to MLB.com. The event brought stadium-wide programming and local non-profit partners together for a day built around the young patients, and it was during that game that Tanner, Sadie and Edric rang the team's cancer-free bell to mark the completion of their treatment journeys, as CBS News first reported.
The Bell's Local Backstory
The physical bell the kids rang was custom built by former White Sox outfielder Ron Kittle, the 1983 American League Rookie of the Year, specifically so young patients could ring and autograph it once their treatment ends. That detail comes from the team's own account, per Inside the White Sox, which describes Kittle as a longtime team ambassador and fan favorite still closely tied to the franchise's charitable efforts.
The custom bell fits into a tradition that goes back three decades. The gesture of ringing a bell after finishing cancer treatment began in 1996 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, when U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Irve Le Moyne rang a brass ship's bell following his own radiation therapy and then donated it to the facility, according to MD Anderson Cancer Center. Le Moyne adapted the gesture from a naval custom used to mark the completion of a mission, and hospitals and ballparks around the country have since adopted their own versions of it.
White Sox Charities' Pediatric Cancer Giving
Chicago White Sox Charities reported in September that it has donated more than $51 million to local non-profit organizations overall, with more than $12 million of that directed specifically to pediatric cancer research and treatment initiatives, per Stock Titan. Supported non-profits include the Bear Necessities Pediatric Cancer Foundation and RUSH University Medical Center. It's not the team's first interactive event of this kind either — in August 2025, the White Sox partnered with local non-profit Cal's Angels for a “Reverse Signing” event, where 14 pediatric cancer patients sat at tables while White Sox players lined up to collect the kids' autographs instead of the other way around, an event that Inside the White Sox notes came from a group that has raised over $33 million for pediatric cancer efforts.
Why September, and Why the Gold Ribbon
The timing lines up with Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, observed internationally in September using the gold ribbon as its official symbol to represent the value of children and the resilience of young patients, according to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation. The “Go Gold” movement behind that ribbon is observed globally by sports teams and municipalities alike, which is part of why ballpark ceremonies like the one at Guaranteed Rate Field have become a recurring fixture in September schedules.
The numbers behind the ceremony show both progress and a persistent gap. The American Cancer Society estimates that roughly 9,680 children under age 15 in the United States will be diagnosed with cancer in 2026, with leukemia and brain tumors remaining the most common diagnoses. The overall five-year survival rate for children diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. has climbed to 85%, up from roughly 58% in the mid-1970s, though survival still varies widely depending on tumor type and stage.
Yet federal research dollars haven't kept pace with that progress. Data compiled by the American Association for Cancer Research and cited in Hoodline's earlier reporting shows pediatric cancers combined have historically received roughly 4% of total federal cancer research funding allocated by the National Cancer Institute, with 96% going toward adult cancers. That imbalance is a large part of why grassroots fundraising and team foundations like White Sox Charities have taken on an outsized role in closing the gap for young patients and their families.
