As the proud mom of a Pride of Minnesota Marching Band member, I attend Gopher football not just for the game, but to watch the band, since my daughter CJ is in the color guard line.

Another great part of each game day for me is watching Goldy interact with the crowd. You can see the joy Goldy brings to the members of the extended Gopher family, and it’s clear that Goldy loves the fans as much as they love Goldy.

I also am moved every time by Goldy’s Hero of the Game.

If you aren’t familiar with this program, Goldy’s Hero is a child who has been seen for treatment at the Masonic Children’s Hospital. Quite often this represents a success story about a great kid who beat the odds. The child and his or her family are invited onto the field to tell the stadium about their experience, and there’s often a video on the scoreboard or members of the treatment team join them.

My first in-person game was in 2021, the same year I started working at the University as a fellowship coordinator for the pediatric hematology/oncology program. When my youngest appeared on the field with the band for the first time, I got teary-eyed.

All these parts of my life (emotional game-day mom, U of M employee, fan of Goldy) came together for me when I saw Goldy’s Hero of the Game.

You see, during my first months at the U of M, I’d worked from home because of the pandemic, and I had to learn the names and faces of faculty via Zoom. It was hard to build personal connections in a virtual world—but at that first game, the great kid happened to be someone who’d been treated for cancer by the team with whom I work.

As I saw footage of the Hero’s hospital unit, I saw familiar faces from those Zoom meetings. And a check was presented to the chair of our pediatrics department for continued cancer research funding.

That’s when it really hit me: I work with doctors who save children’s lives.

Goldy’s Hero was standing on the field with their family because they were treated by people I’m proud to call my coworkers, my team, and my U of M family.

I felt a lump in my throat and started to cry for the second time that day.

I came to that first game to celebrate my child, but the mother standing on the field that day with her child came to do the same thing.

In my own small way, I got to be part of it—my own Pride of Minnesota moment.

Gina Finical is the fellowship program administrator for the U of M’s Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine, Pediatric Nephrology, Pediatric Rheumatology, and Adolescent Medicine areas.

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