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Griffeys join campaign to increase prostate cancer awareness

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Roughly 10 years ago, Ken Griffey Jr. - "The Kid" for whom everything came easy - was dealt the worst break of his life: His mother, Alberta, had been diagnosed with colon cancer, and his father, Ken Sr., had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"So now I have both of my parents dealing with cancer," Griffey Jr. told Bob Nightengale of USA Today, "and at the same time. My mind wasn’t really on baseball. When I finally did get ahold of my dad, he said, 'Don’t worry about me. Worry about your mom.'"

Now, as Junior awaits his induction to Cooperstown, both of his parents are cancer-free, but the Griffey family isn't done fighting the disease. The soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer and his father have joined Men Who Speak Up - a national campaign to increase awareness and break the silence surrounding prostate cancer - to combat the disease that killed four of Senior's uncles.

"It’s still so hard for men to talk about," Griffey Sr. said. "No one wants to talk about the changes in your life, erectile dysfunction, chemotherapy, things you can no longer do. I have a couple of friends of mine that I golf with, and they just recently told me they had prostate cancer three or four years ago."

Having gotten through the "scariest time of (his) life," Griffey Jr. - who will commemorate World Cancer Day alongside his father from Super Bowl headquarters on Thursday - is now poised for one of his finest hours. On July 24, the 13-time All-Star will be inducted (along with Mike Piazza) into the Hall of Fame, and, best of all, his parents will be able to share with moment with him.

"But having my mom and dad there with me, after everything they’ve done for me and what they had to go through, and being healthy today, well, that means everything," he said.

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