Pacers coach, Boston alum Rick Carlisle asks for our aid to save ex-Cs trainer Ed Lacerte

[ASFN Admin]

Some things are bigger than the team you play for, follow, or in former Celtics guard and current Indiana Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle's case, lead. When Boston played Indiana earlier this week for the first installment of a home-and-away series for the Celtics, Carlisle used the start of a press conference to highlight the struggles of retired longtime Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte, who had been with the team from their 1980s title runs right up to just a few years ago.

Lacerte has been diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia, which the team he used to work for has been working to help find a donor to help Lacerte fight the disease. "Ed Lacerte, legendary Celtics trainer, had just gotten the job here at the end of my stint with the Celtics as a player," said Carlisle via CLNS Media. "So I got to know him and have known him for years because of our relationship with the NBA Trainers Association."

"Many of you know he's fighting for his life," he continued. "He has aggressive leukemia. And there's an effort right now to find a stem cell match."

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"The Celtics organization is involved," continued the Celtics coach. "The NBA Trainers Association is heavily involved. We have pins that we're wearing. I know the Celtics are wearing shooting shirts."

"During a game later in the season, we will be wearing shooting shirts, I think, that say 'Lacerte' on the back, which is pretty cool. And so the details ... to register -- you need to be between ages 18 and 35. It's a simple 20-second cheek swab to find a match. It can be done at home, and donating is as simple as giving blood. My understanding is that he has a bit of a rare blood type, and so the search is a bit more challenging than perhaps other cases. (For) details, go to Celtics social media, and you can find out more."

"But this is a great man," said Carlisle. "He was also the trainer for USA basketball I think on one or more occasions. He served his country. He served this city, this organization. And it's a difficult struggle right now, so anything any of us can do to help bring awareness, we would like to do."



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This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Rick Carlisle asks for our aid to save ex-Celtics trainer Ed Lacerte

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