- December 4, 2025
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Celebrities are known to savor the spotlight.
Yet, in the middle of an interview, famous college basketball broadcaster and former coach Dick Vitale stopped talking about himself, pointed across the room and said, “You should go talk to her.”
The person he was pointing toward was Lakewood Ranch’s Marcie Hermann. Hermann had heard there was a fundraiser for the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund at Bad Ass Coffee on University Parkway Oct. 10, so she stopped to support the cause.
She didn’t know Vitale would be autographing his latest book, “Until My Last Breath: Fighting Cancer With My Young Heroes.”
Hermann and Vitale had never met, but Vitale heard her name and knew exactly who she was — Weston Hermann’s mother.
“Weston’s picture should be in Webster’s Dictionary next to the word ‘courageous,’” Vitale said. “He inspired me when I was going through my cancer. (Vitale has survived melanoma, lymphoma, vocal cord cancer and lymph node cancer).”
At just 19 years old, Weston Hermann has battled brain cancer five times. He’s featured in Vitale’s book as a member of his All-Courageous Team. The team is made up of young pediatric cancer survivors.
The team attends the Dick Vitale Gala each year. It’s the event that feeds the research fund, and Vitale’s fundraising is nothing short of “awesome, baby.”
Over the past 20 years, the galas have raised $105.4 million for pediatric cancer research. Vitale’s goal for the 2026 gala is to surpass $120 million.
“It’s so wonderful that he chose this focus to help kids,” Marcie Hermann said. “After years of chemo and brain surgeries, Weston is thriving, so this is what happens when we put a concentration of money into research for pediatric cancer.”
The research fund operates under The V Foundation, which was founded in 1993 by Vitale’s ESPN colleague and good friend Jim Valvano, who led North Carolina State to a surprise NCAA victory in 1983.
Valvano died of cancer less than two months after he announced the foundation’s creation at the first ESPY awards on March 4, 1993. Vitale was on stage when Valvano made an iconic 11-minute speech about his career and cancer.
One phrase, in particular, will never be forgotten because it’s now the V Foundation’s motto: “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”
People like Vitale and Weston Hermann live by that motto. Vitale’s cancer battle started in 2021. Hermann’s dates back to 2014.
The two formed a friendship because Vitale doesn’t just stamp his name on a gala because he’s a celebrity. He genuinely cares about the children and families affected by pediatric cancer.
Vitale met Weston Hermann's father and stepmother, Jared and Aimee Hermann, in 2017 while out to dinner with his wife Lorraine.
Vitale doesn’t remember which one, but they were celebrating their anniversary when the Hermanns approached their table to thank Vitale for his work with pediatric cancer.
“I liked them right away,” Vitale said. “So I told them to sit and join us.”
About an hour into dinner, Jared Hermann showed Vitale videos of Weston Hermann playing hockey. On the way home from dinner, Vitale got Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper on the phone.
Vitale admitted hockey wasn't his sport, but he thought the kid was good. He asked Cooper for a Lightning jersey that said “Hermann” with a No. 1 on the back.
Cooper responded, “Tell him and the father to call me. He can practice skating with the team.”
That happened long before Vitale would know first-hand what battling cancer feels like both physically and mentally. But now, Vitale and Weston Hermann have something else in common — good scans.
Marcie Hermann said that since her son's last surgery two years ago, quarterly scans show the brain tumor has not grown back.
“I’m so blessed that I just did a PET scan and they told me that I’m cancer free,” Vitale said. “Well, until the next one. The nervousness is beyond. I can’t even describe what it’s like waiting for the results.”
The test results came back about two weeks before the fundraiser at Bad Ass Coffee.
While Vitale didn’t have words for the waiting, he easily described the feeling of receiving a cancer-free result.
"For me, a coach, it’s like winning a national championship," he said.
