Sept. 23, 2009

Siena men's lacrosse player Brendan Finneran is one of five ECAC Award of Valor recipients and will be recognized at the league's Honor's Luncheon on October 6 in Hyannis, Mass. Finneran is a cancer survivor who fought his way back to being a Division I student-athlete.

Established in 1985, the ECAC Award of Valor honors ECAC athletes whose courage, motivation, and relentless determination serves as an inspiration to all. The recipients exemplify strength of character and perseverance deserving recognition as being truly triumphant.

Finneran (Canton, Mass./Canton), a junior, was diagnosed with bone cancer in March of 2006. He went through chemotherapy and a surgery that summer that removed 1/3 of the bone in his right leg. Finneran was told by doctors that it would take him six months to walk, years to run and he'd never play lacrosse again. It took him six weeks to stand and a year to run and ride a bike.

Last fall, Finneran returned to lacrosse practice at Siena and was in uniform on the sideline in the season opener against Johns Hopkins. Soon thereafter he sustained a season ending stress fracture in his leg, but is now healthy again and ready for a second comeback.