Rescue company remembers fallen friend

Oceanside lost one of its special citizens when Denise Gallardo succumbed to cancer in April at age 31, but her friends at Rescue Company No. 1 will never forget her. How could they, when she touched so many of their lives in simple and profound ways?

Her friends gathered to honor her at CitiField on August 17, when the Mets hosted Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Night.

Gallardo spent her life caring for others. She volunteered at Rescue Company No. 1 for ten years and continued her work there even after she was diagnosed with the disease that would eventually take her life — but not before she fought it every inch of the way. Gallardo worked as an ABA therapist, helping to teach children with special needs. After she was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2008, she not only vowed to fight the disease, but also considered going to school for oncology so that she could help others do the same, her friends said.

Most of all, Gallardo’s friends at Rescue Company No. 1 remember her everyday kindness. She was dedicated to her family and always willing to help a friend.

“She always had a smile on her face,” said Robert Davis. “And she was like an aunt to my kids.”

“Even when she was really sick, she didn’t want anyone to worry about her,” said Maureen Connell. “You’d ask her how she was doing and she would say, ‘Fine. How are you?’”

Gallardo joined Rescue Company No.1 in 2005. She was initially diagnosed three years later, but underwent chemotherapy and surgery and seemed to have beaten cancer. Her CT scans were clean for a year, but then the cancer returned. She continued to fight, and continued to smile, but by last September her doctors said there was nothing else they could do.

“She sent out a text to all of us that started, ‘I’m sorry for the bad news…,’” Davis remembered.

“We deal with life and death all the time,” said Captain Neil Kaplan. “But when Denise got sick, it showed us how fragile it all is.”

Connell, who took long vacations with Gallardo whenever she was between treatments, remembered the strength and dignity her friend showed as she fought for her life. “She made her peace with it. She was very close to her family, and she wanted to be strong for them. You’d never even know she was sick, but she always fought.”