8 SEPTEMBER 29 - OCTOBER 5, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP
Cancer Can’t Kill Love raises $15k, announces global expansion
31st & 3rd • sunset Park • brooklyn
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Debi Mazar & Gabriele Corcos
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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7 | 2:00
Sample heritage recipes and
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Join them for a book signing*
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Christopher Gavigan
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 8 | 2:00
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BY JAIME DEJESUS
JDEJESUS@BROOKLYNREPORTER.COM
“It takes a village and I love this
village,” said Meaghan McGoldrick,
founder of Cancer Can’t Kill Love, a
growing benefit geared towards raising
cancer awareness as well as funds
to help fight the disease.
The Fifth Annual Cancer Can’t
Kill Love event, held on Saturday,
September 23 at the Leif Bar, 6725
Fifth Avenue, was the event's greatest
success yet.
As of Monday, September 25, the
benefit had raised a whopping $14,274
for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer
Center and $1,020 for the Lustgarten
Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Research,
reaching a total of $15,294. To
date, Cancer Can’t Kill Love has donated
close to $50,000 to cancer research.
McGoldrick, who is also the managing
editor at the Home Reporter and
Brooklyn Spectator, was moved by the
success of an event whose goal is to put
an end to a disease that kills millions,
including both her parents.
“This year's event was so unbelievably
special for so many different reasons,”
she said. “That a bunch of 20-somethings
and their friends and family can raise
over $10,000 in cash alone over just a few
hours at a local bar is something I don't
think I'll ever fully grasp. "
Eight bands performed during the
day-long event, including Brandi &
the Alexanders, the Hill Bros., Tyler
Conroy, Stoop Kids, Denizen, August
on Sunday, On the Fifty and Side Peace.
“This has been our most successful
event, by far,” McGoldrick said. “Not
only did we raise more money than we
ever have before, but we raised more
awareness. This year's event touched
more people. We had more speakers,
told more stories and we're going
global. There was so much love and
positive energy in that room.”
Among the highlights of the event
were swabs for bone marrow and
blood cancer donor matches by Be
The Match and a table where people
could write letters to two children
who have fought or are fighting
cancer: 14-year-old Luke Kaahina,
now cancer-free, and James Lodato, a
six-year-old boy who is still fighting
Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma.
The event’s biggest surprise came from
Luke's father, David, who announced that
this time next year, eight more Cancer
Can't Kill Love events will take place
around the world in places like California,
Hawaii, London and Tokyo.
“They will take place under a new
name, which was inspired by called
‘Cancer Grows Love,'" McGoldrick
said, adding that, before any of this
was announced, the Kaahaaina's were
already set to take home the event's
first-ever Family of the Year award.
“I was completely unaware, and completely
speechless. There was not a dry
eye in the room.”
Although it was a lot of hard work
for all involved, McGoldrick is thrilled
by the outcome, despite having a heavy
heart. “Each year is as hard for me as
it is beautiful,” she said. “I miss my
parents everyday and doing something
like this is big and beautiful
and inspiring, but it is also hard and
sweaty and, to be frank, sad when you
can't share it with the ones you love
most. I'm stoked to be able to raise this
much money in their memory each
and every year.”
For more info, or to donate, visit
www.cancercantkilllove.com.
Photo by Cait McCarthy
Jess Gaudioso, Lauren Epifanio, Meaghan McGoldrick and
Eileen Fitzpatrick.