CINCINNATI, Ohio– This weekend, NFL players have the chance to wear custom-designed cleats for a cause special to them. Bengals center and OSU alum Billy Price revealed his cleats this week. 

Just a week from celebrating five years cancer-free, Shannon Rece finds herself at the Bengals stadium, treated like royalty.

“How did this 40-something get to this place?” Shannon Rece a two-time cancer survivor said. “Where this up and coming football star is interested in something that means so very much to me?”

Rece met Billy Price in 2017 when he was an intern with L Brands in Columbus. She says in the last week of his internship, she asked him for a signed football for Pelotonia, a cause close to her. Price came back with a signed football of the entire team.

“I don’t think you realize what this means or the impact this is going to have,” Rece said. “I kind of think that was a pivotal moment for him. It was something more than just Ohio State players’ names on a football.”

The two have been friends ever since. Price knew he wanted his cleats this year to honor Rece and her commitment to Pelotonia- he said the decision was a no-brainer.

“We put a special touch, and we put Shannon’s name on the cleat and her mother’s name on the cleat for cancer survivors so that this week, when we play the Cleveland Browns, we’ll be able to showcase those,” Price said.

The national exposure for Pelotonia in the Bengals Browns matchup on Sunday will surely bring more attention to the Columbus-based bike ride for cancer research.

“We’re playing Cleveland,” Price said. “It’s an Ohio foundation; it’s an Ohio fundraiser. And just to continue to spread that community reach for Pelotonia, to continue to educate folks about it, it’s just again, it means the world to me to be able to do this.”

Rece has been a rider in Pelotonia for eight years, raising over $215,000 for the cause.

“I live Pelotonia,” she said. “This is every day to me. This isn’t just a bike ride; this isn’t just one weekend in August; it is 24/7/365 days a year for me. And that’s my goal, that we achieve one goal. That we end cancer for good.”

So for her, to have these cleats and to see them after months of designing and discussions, it means the world.

“I pulled them out of the box and then opened the shoebox, and I just cried because it’s special,” she said.