Anthony Pacella with his late mother, Mary Melillo Pacella | Photos courtesy Anthony Pacella
“When something like that happens, sometimes you want to make some sort of connection” he says. “But there was no reason.”
Pacella channelled his feelings towards a new purpose, doing something positive for his mother and helping others. He envisioned a one-off cancer fundraising event that he hoped his mom — who was receiving treatment at Montreal’s St. Mary’s Hospital — would be able to attend.
“When someone goes through such a disease, you see them suffer but there’s nothing you can do to help them,” he says. “I wanted to run an event where she could forget about her illness, forget about her pain for one night.”
So the teenager founded the StrikeOut Cancer fund, and a few months later he helped organized a bowlathon that raised $21,000.
Regrettably, Mary Melillo Pacella passed away on January 6, 2011, before her son’s event. Yet he did tell her about his fundraising and advocacy efforts and, he recalls, she gave him a sign of support, love and pride that he holds close to his heart.
John Molson School of Business student Anthony Pacella founded StrikeOut Cancer. The organization holds an annual bowlathon and will host its first gala with Make-A-Wish Quebec on November 7.