Twin Cities television and radio personality Mark Rosen will sound the Gjallarhorn at Sunday’s Vikings game in conjunction with the NFL’s “Crucial Catch” campaign.
The campaign works with the American Cancer Society to raise awareness and address early detection and risk reduction efforts across multiple types of cancers.
Rosen’s wife, Denise, was diagnosed with Glioblastoma in July of 2018. According to the American Brain Tumor Association, the condition is a cancerous tumor that arises from cells within brain tissue. It rarely spreads to other parts of the body and is known to come about spontaneously in 95 percent of patients.
Rosen announced his retirement in late 2018 due to his wife’s condition and after three years of battling the disease, Denise passed away inAugust.
Speaking on his Twitter account, Rosen called the opportunity to sound the Gjallarhorn “emotional and inspirational.”
So honored the @Vikings asked me to sound the Gjallarhorn to honor my late wife Denise as part of their “Crucial Catch” campaign on Sunday to intercept cancer. It will be emotional and inspirational
— Mark Rosen (@KFANRosen) October 8, 2021
Rosen will be one of several people at Sunday’s game who will be honored after being affected by cancer. The list also includes the family of Gabe Grunewald and her sister, Abigail Anderson.
Grunwald was a professional and Gopher cross country runner who was diagnosed with adenoid cystic carcinoma in 2009. Over the next 10 years, Grunewald was diagnosed with several types of cancer while finishing one place shy of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics.
Grunewald died in 2019 but her memory was kept alive in large part due to Anderson, who ran in the 2019 New York City Marathon and established the Brave Like Gabe Foundation to provide support and hope to those battling cancer.
Anderson tragically died after being struck by a driver last August.
The Crucial Catch campaign has had a bigger emphasis this year as screenings for some cancers have declined 90 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NFL is working with the ACS to safely restart cancer screenings in communities with the most need.
