Guest on the 310 To Left Podcast

Note: I apologise for any mistakes, inaccuracies or missing parts. Some parts were a bit tricky to decipher but I did my best to be as thorough as possible in my transcription.

Tom Caron: Throwing out the first pitch at Fenway Park, does that…I mean you’ve done everything there is to do it seems but you haven’t done this.

Patrick Dempsey: I haven’t done this.

TC: Do you actually get a little nervous about this?

PD: I’m really nervous and then everybody’s got advice like “Are you practicing?”, “Make sure it doesn’t bounce”. I just got to make sure I warm up and yeah it’s a tremendous honour and you know as kid, growing up here, you know this was it. And you know you always had the curse of the Babe right? We’d get to the playoffs and I remember – I’m wearing number 27 tonight who was my hero Carlton Fisk, you know – and I remember in 76 and he hit the home run and I was like “Is it gonna go? Is it gonna go?” and the next day at school we would play that moment over and over again. And now to be here to throw out the first pitch is very special and I remember sitting right over here where it’s 14 to 15 in that area when I first came out to watch a game in person.

TC: Down from Maine.

PD: Yeah, I came down from Maine, it was a big trip for us.

TC: See, now I’m from Lewiston, you’re from the suburbs of Lewiston but when you come down here I try to tell people from Boston who came here a lot as a kid like I came once a year if I was lucky.

PD: Yeah.

TC: And it was “Oh my god Fenway Park!”.

PD: Well the big trip into Boston was big deal and then Fenway Park and the history, it’s 112 years this year , coming up.

TC: Yeah. But when you walk out here as a kid and the Green is around you it’s just…

PD: Well you hear so much about the Green Monster, right? And then you see it in person and then you see the crowd and the energy, it was overwhelming and I just remember smiling the whole time . I still feel that way coming in today.

TC: So, do you have something in mind? I mean…So Will Ferrell came in, threw out the first pitch years ago and we had him on the show just before the game and he went out and imitated Luis Tiant like the arms and legs and…

PD: (laughing) And then turn around.

TC: Yeah.

PD: I thought about doing that.

TC: Yeah. He kind of pulled it off a little bit. And then of course you had Rob Gronkowski who just spiked it.

PD: The spike, that was a couple weeks ago.

TC: Yeah last Patriots’ Day.

PD: Yeah.

TC: Gisele Bündchen came in and Dennis Eckersley was with me and he said “Well you got aim up because you’re stepping down”.

PD: Right.

TC: And she launched it like a 50 feet overhead…

PD: Oh really?

TC:…And blasted him on the Today Show the next day. So I’m giving you no advice.

PD: I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen, I can get it across the plate and it doesn’t bounce.

TC: We always say…We always show them when they’re horribly bad.

PD: Maybe that’s what I should do.

TC: I hope we don’t show it tonight, okay? I hope we don’t show it tonight. You actually…You told me this before that you remember watching that Carlton Fisk run in the 75 World Series.

PD: Oh yeah I see it as clear as…It was like yesterday. It was such a big moment and that was a great game, went down with that pitch. And then I just remember him going down first base line and he just said “Go, go, go” and then it went over and it was just like an amazing moment. And then the next day at school everybody was reliving that moment.

TC: ‘Cause everyone’s parents let them stay up late.

PD: (smiling) Yeah.

TC: It was really late. I remember going to school groggy-eyed the next day.

PD: It was really late. Oh yeah.

TC: So cool!

PD: We were so energised by that.

TC: And you wear his number 27 which is really, really cool.

PD: Well I was a catcher you know… That’s what… I was the catcher so he was my idol.

TC: And speaking of idols, we were a the golf tournament last year, the Drive Fore Kids…

PD: Right.

TC:…Up in Falmouth and suddenly you’ve got a bat in your hand and Roger Clemens is throwing to you.

PD: Well I had payed around with Roger Clemens, which was great. I couldn’t believe it you know? And he’s so approchable, such a nice guy. And I think we were on maybe the 14th or 15th hole and then this kid came out and he said “Hey Roger, would you, would you mind…?” You know…”Can you play catch?”. And then he had a bat too and I’m like “Well can I hit against you?” and he goes “Yeah sure” and we had a little game right in the middle of the golf course.

TC: Is that…Like, do you feel like a fan again? Are you Patrick Dempsey from Maine at that point, the Red Sox fan?

PD: Absolutely, turned back into a little kid. I mean the whole round, I mean he was playing worse than I was which was good. I was happy about that and we had a good time, I got a chance to get to know him, to talk to him and the impact he made in this community is huge so it was really special and how genuine he was and how kind he was with the fans was nice to see.

TC : Every year we do the Jimmy Fund telethon and every year he donates batting practice, he flies in and you bring 10 people out, kids whatever and he does pitching lessons for them and then he always doubles it you know, and just alway willing to stop and give back, and you’ve always done that like, you’ve never forgotten about Maine. That’s always been your foundation, hasn’t it?

PD: Yeah, I mean that’s where you come from. You learn your values there. I think Maine in general is really about community, about giving back, a lot of philanthropic work that’s done there, that’s quietly done. And I got some good advice early on: “Never forget where you come from”. And you know, I go back and you remember where you started, where you are today, where you want to go and then what can you do to improve your community. And that’s all the values that started here.

TC: And I feel like you’ve kept that, I think, better than most people who have achieved success, you’ve made it part of who you are like The Peloton Project, you do movies that sort of reflect those values. You’ve always tried to bring that with you in your career, haven’t you?

PD: Yes, I think it forms you. I think growing up…And certainly in the Lewiston/Auburn area…At that time a lot of those mills were closing, it’s a very tough community, not a lot of hope, not a lot of inspiration and so when anyone would come into the community it was a big deal. And I never forgot that and I look around and just I was very fortunate where things happened for me but I could still very easily be there; you know, working and a lot of the mills are gone, a lot of the industry is gone and there’s a lot of need there and certainly what happened a year ago, we’re 6 months out from the shooting and we have to remember, you know. We have to remember our community and support our community.

TC: And you did that, you came out and posted some things and said some things, it meant a lot.

PD: Yeah, we played softball and there’s nothing like getting people together to play baseball.

TC: Bill Lee was there.

PD: Yeah, he was there! So we had a great time, it was very competitive, a lot of good clubs that came up to support the event. And I had a lot of fond memories playing baseball in Lewiston, Auburn …Buckfield, Lewiston, Auburn in that area and then Turner as well. And you know, it’s just, it’s just there’s nothing like getting a ball and playing together and that really was, I think, part of the healing process for everyone.

TC: I remember, I spoke at the vigil two days after and bottom line is my son once said…you know he was talking, he’s like “okay you’ve got a work ethic like nobody I know” and I remember just my immediate reaction was “Well im from Lewiston” right? Like that’s…you have to…

PD: You had to work. If you wanted anything you had to have a job. You had to…you know…I got down here maybe a couple times just because the family couldn’t afford to do it, we always had food on the table but you understood the value of the dollar and you had to go to work, picking up drops and doing all that and a few days of market stalls and I was like “I’m not doing that, I’m not doing that anymore”. And you have that good work ethic.

TC: And that’s carried you obviously and you’ve brought back. The work you’ve done back home, the Dempsey Center obviously, you went through watching your mother battle cancer and that kind of made you realise there was an opportunity to help other people going through it. Take us through that process.

PD: Right. So my mother was diagnosed, I think it was in 97-98 and she had over 12 re-occurrences; she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Fought a really long battle until about 2014 and that was just too much. You know, when you have a diagnosis in the family it’s devastating, you don’t know what to do and you want to be able to give back and thank God my sister worked in the hospital so she could navigate the conversations with the nurses and the doctors and gave us an understanding. But it wasn’t until I started working with the Amgen Tour of California that I was exposed to their “Breakaway From Cancer” initiative and that’s where the wellness center was first presented to me or wraparound care. So, what we do at the center, which was inspired by mom’s cancer journey and there was nothing like this in Lewiston/Auburn at the time, is…what we do is we don’t treat the disease we treat the person holistically in wraparound care meaning counselling, heath and wellness, comfort, nutrition, yoga, acupuncture and reiki. We do that and the services are at no cost to anyone who needs our support as well as the caregivers and kids.

TC: That’s amazing.

PD: And it was inspired by my mom’s journey.

TC: Right. And because again there was nothing like that then.

PD: No and our big mission is to really spread the word because it should be as soon as you’re diagnosed, it should be standardised care because you can wait two or three weeks before you get your test results back, before you know exactly what you’re going to do and that’s a time when we need to come in and help people, sort of go “okay, so what can we do to help support you and your family?”

TC: We were talking about, before, the home-based programme they do here and it’s the same idea, right, like there’s medicines and there’s treatments and they say “here’s your oncologist and here’s where you’ll go for radiology” but nobody holds your hand, there’s no humanity.

PD: There’s no humanity and what happens is once you’ve done your treatment you’re left and you’re done and you’ve had great success with, you know, treating the disease but now we need to treat the person and that’s where we come in.

TC: The Dempsey Challenge has fuelled this for a long time.

PD: Yeah.

TC: It’s a huge event in Lewiston by the way.

PD: It’s a big event and it’s really brought to community together too and there’s a lot of pride there. And we couldn’t do it without the community, the money that’s been raised. I think we’re close to $30 million dollars now over the last 16 years. It will be September 21st this year. We’ve condensed it into one day where we do the run, the walk and the ride and that’s really to promote people to stay active, right? If you’re active you feel better emotionally, you feel better mentally and it gives you that strength to, you know, fight the disease.

TC: And the spirit of it.

PD: Tremendous spirit because people are there because they want to be, they’ve been impacted, their hearts are wide open and it’s a really special day.

TC: And it’s grown, right? I mean it was in Lewiston and now it’s Portland, I know there’s a new one, Rock Row.

PD: We have two facilities now, right, so we have the Lewiston which was the original Center and now we’re in South Portland. We’re waiting for our new facility which will be Rock Row in February of 2025 because we’re just bursting at the seams in Portland right now and the services, the word is getting out there and people come in and they’re so relieved that they have this support system.

TC: In full disclosure, I just had my first board meeting…

PD: Yeah, you did.

TC: I’m a member of the board so I actually know a little bit of what I’m talking about here.

PD: We have a great board too, we have some really great people who understand, who have been impacted themselves either personally or family member and the compassion is incredible.

TC: But I found it, what I didn’t know, being a guy from Maine knowing what I thought I knew about the Center and the support, is that it’s now spreading outside New England, like 32 states I think.

PD: We’re servicing 32 states, yes.

TC: Which is…

PD: …virtually.

TC: …Virtually, right but the kind of came out of COVID right?

PD: We did. We were always working on that and then with COVID that really accelerated the programme and now we’re treating a lot of people virtually. And certainly in rural Maine it’s very hard to get into Lewiston, especially if you’re up north. The word’s getting out there so people are calling in and it’s benefitting a lot of people.

TC: It’s amazing, isn’t it that we kind of go to technology, we talk about humanity but you’re actually connecting people to have a human conversation through the technology.

PD: Right, because we’re listening to them.

TC: Right.

PD: Right, and they can communicate, they can let go of all the fear and the anxiety with a professional who knows how to take care of them. But now we’re starting to see more of people wanting to come back into the Center, that want to be in person which is really good, and working together as a group. And the demand is very high which means we have to work much harder with our fundraising because all of these services are free. So our mission, our goals are being reached which means we have to work even that much harder now to raise the money to make sure that these services are at no cost.

TC: Where does it go from here?

PD: Just spreading the word nationally, right? I mean there are a lot of people throughout the country didn’t realise this was the type of thing that was possible, that the supportive care is there. We’re reaching out to other like-minded centres; we just discovered a wonderful one called Cancer Care in New York City, they’ve been around since 1944, it was inspired by a man who lost both his mother and father within 6 months. And we’re continuing that and basically making people aware that’s our mission nationally and then connecting with other like-minded centres throughout the country. We’re also servicing 4 countries as well.

TC: Wow, and people can help, obviously they can sign up for the challenge.

PD: They can sign up for the challenge, it’s going to be September 21st this year and you can go online to dempseychallenge.org and register or if you need any help go to dempseycenter.org and see if we can help with any of the online services that we have.

TC: Okay, I think I’ve just set a record: it’s the longest interview you’ve gone without anybody asking about being the sexiest man on Earth, so congratulations on that.

PD: (laughs) Thank you very much.

TC: Because here you’re just a Maine Sports Hall of Famer, a driver, you know? Sexy comes way down the list of baseball and…

PD: Sort of funny that it’s happening at this point in my life so it’s nice to have the attention at my age.

TC: What was the reaction? Like…

PD: (smiling) I always thought somebody was joking, I thought they were making fun of me but it worked out nicely so I enjoy the attention. (laughs)

TC: But, no lie, I mean you’re a Maine Sports Hall of Famer.

PD: I am, yeah, it’s a tremendous honour. Yeah I think because of the challenge and certainly with racing, you know, sports car racing. And I’m getting ready to go, I’ll go to Spain tomorrow for a two-day test in Barcelona and I’ll get back in the car this year, I’ve got four races in a new endurance series with Porsche. We’ve got a couple of good sponsors on board, TAG Heuer and Mobil 1 will be taking care of us.

TC: As thrilling now as it was when you first got behind the wheel?

PD: Even more so, I appreciate that much more now. I took a break in 2015, I’d reached all my goals and it was a tremendous sacrifice, like anything you want to do and do it well you’re going to have to sacrifice something, it was a lot of time away from my family and I was like “I can’t justify this anymore”. I wanted to get on the podium at Le Mans, I achieved that and then I could feel there was a dissipation of energy, you know, where I was like “this is not…the fire is not there anymore, I want to be home, I want to be with my kids and I want to be with my wife and family” and I just really step back from a lot of things other than of course the Center. It allowed me more time to spend at the Center and to help there. And now I’m getting back into it, my son’s like “yeah dad you got to get back in the car”. I think he has an agenda as well.

TC: Well…

PD: Just don’t tell his mother! (laughs)

TC: I was going to ask that because players will say like “you have young kids and it all takes you away from them”.

PD: Yes.

TC: But then there comes a point where they’re old enough to appreciate what you’re doing and now you share it with them.

PD: Yes, I did. My son just got his license and I took him to the Experience Center in Carson which is…Porsche does this teen driving school which is really helpful for car control, situational awareness, understanding what the car is capable of if there’s…There’s a gray track because we have so much snow and rain up here you can lose control of the car really quickly so it teaches the eye/hand coordination and how to get the car corrected. And he had a great time doing that.

TC: It’s, well it’s funny my wife was a claims insurance adjuster for a while so I felt bad for my two sons ’cause they were constantly “nope we’re going out” like after the got their license but it’s really important.

PD: Yeah, it is. I mean, you do the written exam and then you drive a little bit but I think it’s important if you have an opportunity or there’s anything in this community where there’s a driving programme, I highly recommend it.

TC: So, you’re going back to drive, what’s next for Patrick Dempsey?

PD: Really focusing on the Center, that’s been the big thing; getting my kids now into college, that’s the next step so we’re doing a lot of tours, there’s that pressure and then, and then we’ll see how they are in the world.

TC: That’s awesome, congratulations on all the success.

PD: Thank you. Thanks for having me here today.

TC: Awesome, thanks.

PD: Pleasure.

TC: Well done.

PD: See you on the golf course. (laughs)

TC: See you on the golf course. (laughs) I’ll be way way back.