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New Mexico governor's kindness leaves Hugh Greenwood 'speechless'

New Mexico governor's kindness leaves Hugh Greenwood 'speechless'

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez praised Lobos guard Hugh Greenwood on Mondya for standing up to a social media bully last week who made crude and insensitive remarks about Greenwood's mother's battle with breast cancer.

Martinez then went a step further by donating $10,000 in unused innaugural committee funds to the 'Pink Pack' fundraising campaign started by Greenwood to honor his mother, Andree, who lives in Australia. Funds donated to the Pink Pack go to the Univeristy of New Mexico Cancer Center.

“I am so proud of Hugh for standing beside his mother, for taking the high-road during the UNLV game, for having the courage to fight against cancer—for his own family and for others—and that is why I am standing by Hugh today,” Martinez told the Albuquerque Journal.

Greenwood scored 22 points with eight rebounds in a 71-69 victory at UNLV last week and said one of the best performances of his career was motivated by the abuse he took from an anonymous poster on Twitter.

“I don’t mind when people attack me personally,” Greenwood told the Journal after the game. “That’s all well and good. We put ourselves in positions (as basketball players) to do that. But family is different, especially with mum going through what she’s going through. As a family, it’s very, very difficult to (hear) jokes about cancer and jokes about driving my mum here in a hearse. It was hurtful and obviously it motivated me tonight."

When he heard about the donation the governor gave to New Mexico coach Craig Neal to pass along to Greenwood and the Pink Pack, Greenwood reacted on Twitter.

Greenwood is a senior and his parents are hoping to make the trip from Australia later this season to see him play in The Pit on senior night.

 

 

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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!