Derek Jeter befriended Brielle Saracini when her dad died on 9/11, now he's helping her fight cancer

By Mike Bertha

September 8, 2014

We've all heard of Derek Jeter -- the Yankees superstar shortstop set to hang 'em up at season's end -- but most of us probably don't know much about Brielle Saracini.

Derek Jeter does.

Saracini, now 23, met Jeter more than a decade ago. She had just lost her father, Victor Saracini, in the attacks on 9/11. He was a pilot on Flight 175 - the plane that was hijacked and flown into the South Tower. Just days after the attack, Brielle wrote a letter to the Yankees captain. Jeter read it and invited the young girl and her family to a game in the Bronx.

The New York Daily News reports that the pair has maintained a friendship over the years, with Saracini making an appearance on the field when Jeet had a rehab start in Trenton. She even managed to get a job with the YES Network after graduating from Boston College. When she was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma -- the same disease Jeter's sister beat -- he would call to motivate her.

The message was from Derek Jeter.

The date was Sept. 26, the same afternoon Jeter and Andy Pettitte went out to the mound to take the ball from Mariano Rivera to close out his career. It was also the 12-year anniversary of the day Brielle, Kirsten and Ellen Saracini had visited the Stadium after United Flight 175 was hijacked. Even the opponent - Tampa Bay - was the same.

"I just wanted to call and say, keep your head up, stay positive and everything will work out just great," Jeter said in the message

Saracini beat the cancer once, but it returned this spring. After undergoing intense treatment for her disease, she was unable to attend Derek Jeter Day at Yankee Stadium on Sunday, but says she intends to be in the stands for the last (regular season) game of Jeter's career: September 28, 2014 at Fenway Park.