A Special Yankees Honor for a Westporter

By Phyllis Groner

Julie Loparo with Rookie, a Lab and Pointer mix who is eligible for adoption. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Phyllis Groner for WestportNow.com
There will be a special ceremony Saturday at Yankee Stadium with Westporter Julie Loparo having a central role.

To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Yankees will make Loparo, 48, who is battling breast cancer, an honorary captain.

The honor did not come out of the blue. Loparo’s husband, Mike, is general manager of concessions at the Stadium. But he says he is not sure who arranged it.

Before the first pitch against Minnesota at 1:05 p.m., Loparo and her Norwalk Hospital oncologist, Dr. Richard Zelkowitz, also a Westporter, will be driven on to the field in a golf cart.

They will be joined by Loparo’s daughter, Callie, 15, a sophomore at Staples High School.

Following the ceremony, Loparo and her entourage will be whisked up to a Sky Box reserved for her so she can comfortably watch her favorite team play.

Loparo, who is known to many Westporters for her devotion to the Westport Animal Shelter Advocates (WASA)  where she serves as president, said the Yankees have made her life easier as she deals with her illness, which was diagnosed in January.

During one of her most difficult days after her first session with chemotherapy, she said a large number of “Yankee Angels” showed up at her house.

“They did mountains of laundry, saw that I had lots of food, cleaned our flooded basement and were there for me,” she said.

She said the Yankees wanted to show their support for one of their “family” members. 

“It’s amazing to me that people have been so kind and helpful,” Loparo said. “Hardly a day has gone by without someone showing up with flowers or dinner.”

Despite her illness, Loparo remains focused on finding homes for abandoned animals and supporting WASA.

She currently has six dogs she cares for plus one, Rookie, a Lab and Pointer mix who is eligible for adoption.

She said she intends to bring several WASA hats to Yankee Stadium Saturday and hopefully will have the team members sign them. She will them put them up for auction to benefit WASA.

The organization has two “Top Dog” fund-raising events coming up—the essay and photo contest in September and the Top Dog Contest at the Compo Beach sometime in October.

While the Loparos will be making their way Saturday to Yankee Stadium, they won’t forget the Whittingham Cancer Center’s Annual Benefit Walk/Run at Norwalk’s Calf Pasture Beach. Several WASA volunteers will be among those participating.