Month: September 2021

Hockey, hockey, hockey!! I got to referee Nick’s Royals vs Glaciers game at the Spectrum where the Flyers and Phantoms play, after a Phantoms game. We invited 17 friends to watch the game and have lunch and cake afterwards. It was his 12th birthday! So much fun, I was so proud of your achievement on the ice Nicky! The next day we were in York playing in a tournament and you finally scored your first goal! Joe was working hard and trying to make a AAA summer team. Team Philadelphia. Go get it bud. Baseball was cranking up too. A lot going on.

Tryouts for Team Philadelphia were contentious at the least. Our indoctrination into higher level AAA hockey. So political. Joe was overlooked for a position but caught the eye of the Squirt Major Philadelphia Little Flyers coach. I got a call to invite Joey to try out for the team. An honor. He killed it and became a member of the prestigious AAA Philadelphia Little Flyers Hockey Hockey Club. #44- So proud. We were off to Buffalo, Boston, DC and Chicago. It was so much fun with the boys. Great Hockey players and fierce competitors on the ice. Off the ice was always a different story. Parental drama. The worst part of youth sports. Joe’s coach, Greg Conicello was a coach, an equipment manager, an intermediary, a surgeon and a shrink. There was always drama. Big time Hockey.

At the same time, I was putting together a team of my own. The Upper Moreland Middle school team for 2006. The head coach finally. Sixteen 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders of various experience and talent levels. It was a job! A challenge too! I’m always up for a challenge. Between helping coach the Little Flyers and the UM Middle school team, I was a busy boy! Couldn’t forget work…or the “Team Belaggio” fall classic!

Our third year, labor of love, Leukemia and Lymphoma society golf outing fundraiser was quickly approaching. “Team Belaggio” was going to be bigger and better this year. We coincided this years event with the LLS-Light the Night walk. This year, to try and top last year’s event, we decided to hire a Texas Hold-em event company to set up after the golf outing and banquet dinner. By adding the nighttime event, we increased our population and revenue immensely. The attendees loved the concept. Golf and games with prizes, dinner with raffles, collectable auctions and prize baskets, then an all out cash winning Texas HoldEm tournament. Oh what a night! “TEAM BELAGGIO” Was the largest donor in our division for the Annual “Light the Night Walk” where we donated the proceeds of our event. A huge accomplishment for us all. It felt great to give back to everyone who helped me survive. We would give it another go next year. A last hurrah. Fundraising is really tough work. Four years would be enough. My goal was to reach a total of 100k from all four fundraisers. Now I have to get into Santa mode, Coach mode and Survivor mode. Tis the season…got to make the Donuts! I mean Diamonds!

A Personal side note…

Joseph turned 25 years old on the 21st of September this week…2021. Those that may recall an earlier excerpt will remember the 21st of September was the day after I came home from my Bone Marrow Transplant. That morning Joe announced his arrival and I was rushed to meet Lori and watch him being born at Frankford Torresdale Hospital. His birthday is my reminder of my release day after 58 days of isolation in Hanahmen Hospital. Sullen, sick and barely able to walk, I watched from my wheelchair, that beautiful baby boy shoot out like rocket! Thank God it was quick! I am so proud of how handsome, hard working, intelligent and compassionate he has become. Happy Birthday Joe! We love you!

Next Up: Our Family Mourns

Another year was coming to a close. Eventful as it was, my Leukemia never entered into the equation. A full year of negative tests and some much needed mental wellness. Dr. Topolsky ran another Chimersm, it had been a while, and the results were spectacular. My DNA had completely reverted back to the characteristics of my brother Glenn. From O Positive blood to B Positive again. This was excellent. Except that I could no longer prove that my boys…WERE my boys. My nephew and nieces were my kids now. Lol. Anyway, the cancer front was quiet for now. A funny thing happened though soon thereafter. Joey had grandparents day at his school where my parents were going to represent our family. Joe got up to introduce them and hesitated for a moment. He introduced them as “I think these are my grandparents”. Or, didn’t know, “If his dad was his dad”. Apparently, his older cousins had been teasing him that he and Nick weren’t related to them or me because of my DNA change. He was very confused. Poor kid was only nine years old and had seen and been through so much in his short life. My Dad quickly interjected, explained what Joe was confused about and got a pretty big laugh out of all the other grandparents and teachers in attendance. He was so glad that I was his Dad….again.

Lori accepted a job as a Librarian at the Hatfield Elementary School in the North Penn School District. All of the hard studies and great transcripts paid off. Of course she would begin her masters plus studies simultaneously. No rest for the weary. Or the super motivated. We had a lot of ground to make up. Like miles of ground. Luckily, business was really going strong. This year was headed towards a record breaking season. We needed it so bad! During the Christmas rush, my team of seasoned salespeople really worked hard. My favorite sight is when men press cash against the front windows after we’ve closed already! “Please let us in”! We always did. Santa never rejects cash. Buttoned up the store and headed home with a great feeling. A good year finally. Now, I can sleep.

I arrived home amid some holiday fireworks. Not the beautiful shooting stars and lights, but the very unusual familial sort. An all out disagreement turning ugly. I had no clue what had happened but this was really uncharacteristic of our family. My dad decided to walk out but Lori went after him to difuse the situation. After all she had cooked her ass off. Preparing a dinner for 25 people is no joke. This was Christmas Eve. A merry Christmas to all and to all a good night. We would end it that way. A good night. No other way.

Lor didn’t need any bs. Her dad was still failing and the trips to New York were getting tougher. She was just learning the ropes of her new job, furthering her education and we still were going balls out with hockey, both boys on four teams. It was hectic. The poor woman has had no rest for nine years. It was my turn to pick up the slack. It would end up a great year though. Looking forward to the next one. Happy and Healthy.

Next up: “2006” and Another “Team Belaggio” Event.

“2004” was such an eventfull year. PCR negative for the first time in four years. Lori graduated with her Masters Degree. 4.0 of course. We had a great time on our Disney Cruise. Nick was knocking it out of the park finally in baseball and after four years of hard work, was gearing up for his Black Belt test in “Tong Soo Do” Karate. Very proud pop! Joe was flying on the ice, Bear was getting huge and I finished up another year at the store. Ho Ho Ho! Life was great. The back and forth to New York was a regular occurrence as Nonno was still battling into the new year. Now, it was time to get rolling again on our second “Team Belaggio” event.

Planning a charity event like mine had to be a labor of love. There was so much work involved in raising sponsors, getting donations of gifts and prizes and merchandise. Calls upon calls everyday for months right up until that day. This year was going to be bigger and better. I had experience now.

“2005” was very eventful too. As I planned and worked towards my big event, work was picking up…a lot! A great Valentines Day and Mothers Day, the year was looking good. Hockey was taking up a huge amount of time. Nick was playing his first year on the Middle School team and trying so hard. He was so upset that he hadn’t scored a goal all season. He was only in fifth grade. It will come. We got to go to Lake Placid with Joe’s team and I got to coach in the 1980 Olympic arena where the US won the Gold medal. Very exciting! It was a great time. When we got home, Nick passed his Black Belt test and proudly became an official “Bad Ass”. Scary. Unfortunately, his skills had to be tested soon after….they were pretty good. Took me a while to get Joe’s nose to stop bleeding. Unbelievable. Can they ever stop fighting?!!! This toughness would become most evident a few weeks later.

Nick was running a very high fever. 105 degrees and had terrible pain in his stomach. Lori took him to the doctor and the diagnosis by the PA was a viral infection. He was sent home with instructions to take Ibuprofen and drink liquids. I got home from work a few hours later and the poor kid was curled up on the sofa writhing in pain, high fever and very pale. I knew otherwise. After a fast drive to the ER, Nick was admitted with a burst Appendix! Talk about a scary situation! Luckily, he was given pain meds to help him. I couldn’t believe that he went almost two days barely complaining and just taking the pain. The Surgeon would wait twenty-four hours to operate on Nick so that the antibiotics they were administering to him would reduce the infection prior to taking the infected Appendix out. When the time came to operate, it was so hard to watch him being wheeled away into the operating room. Who gets Appendicitis at eleven years old! The operation was a success and all was good until the Principal at Nick’s Elementary School called his name at his graduation later that night! Where’s Nick! Poor kid didn’t get to go on stage to receive his Presidential Education Award, his Principal Award, his Circle of Excellence Award and his Math Excellence Award. Everybody missed him because they didn’t know what happened yet. Such a great kid.

My “LABOR” of love was now coming to fruition. It felt so great to give back to the cause. The event went off without too many issues. Northampton Valley CC was very hospitable as usual and my team was spectacular! The golf course was packed, as well as the dinner. We had a speaker from the LLS come to our banquet dinner and deliver a great speech as well as another compatriot battling Leukemia. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. In the end, we raised about 20k to donate to the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. Another successful day. This time I was sure to hydrate and eat. No kidney stones this year…thank God.

Next up: Finishing Out The Year

As the year 2004 marched on, Nonno was still in rehab and ever so slowly trying his best to recuperate. He loved to see the boys. They really perked him up. Communication was difficult but the barriers were broken down by the love between him and his boys…he called them. It was tough and slow going. Lori still making constant trips up and down to New York.

I personally was beginning to feel great. Consistently stronger and more alive. I was coaching hockey and soccer and working long hours at the store. It felt great to be back. Joey was chosen to play on a special tournament hockey team and travel to Pittsburgh to play against tournament teams of select 8 year olds. His coach was a rough and gruff old time coach. An older man more used to dealing with 20 year Olds. Not 8 year Olds. The first practice, I found Joe very upset in the locker room hallway. He was crying and said that the coach called him an ass! What! The coach saw him and said that he didn’t call him that. He said get your sorry ass moving to his drill mate and Joe thought he was yelling at him. Anyway , the coach had a bad hangover the morning that we won the championship. A little too much at the hotel bar the night before.. He slept it off while the boys handled business.

Now it was my turn. The holiday season was approaching and time to start preparing for Team Belaggio round two! Same place, same springtime, same excitement! Lots more golfers, lots more gifts and prizes and lots more work! I’ll get it done…I’m feeling fantastic! It’s good to be alive.

In closing this excerpt, written September. 5th, 2021, I choose not to lament the fact that I celebrate entering the next decade of my life…my 60th birthday today. To me, this is my 25th birthday. Twenty five years ago today. I was lying almost unconsciously in the Bone Marrow Unit at Hahnemann Hospital not knowing if I would see my 36th birthday. But here I am, in Florida, by myself, doing some maintenance on my vacation house, lounging by the pool and watching my Facebook feed kindly generate over 300 sweet birthday wishes….Thank you all. I called my wife and boys tonight just to tell them how much I loved them and how proud they make me everyday. I am blessed in so many ways. Happy 60th to me! Now back to my blog.

Next up: Here we Go Again