Photos: Golfing for Gabi raises money for a cause

The sixth annual Golfing for Gabi fundraiser hit the Rockville Links on Aug. 5, to help raise roughly $60,000 for brain cancer research.

The event was named in memory of Gabriella Pellicani, a five-year-old girl from Rockville Centre who died in 2018 of glioblastoma — an aggressive and incurable form of brain cancer. Since then the family has raised more than $360,000 for The Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Following an afternoon on the green, participants attended a dinner reception and silent auction at the Rockville Links, where guests bid on a variety of different prizes and gift baskets, the contents of which ranged from Islanders tickets, to a new bicycle, a video projector and much more.

Among the many prizes up for auction this year, was a majestic storybook dollhouse, beautifully restored by Tara Hackett as part of the “Tiny Doors” campaign and donated by Diane Restivo and family in Gabi’s memory.

Gabi was a student at St. Mark’s Cooperative Nursery School and started kindergarten at Watson Elementary School in Rockville Centre, before undergoing cancer treatment.

Following radiation therapy, Gabi was treated at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, between April and June 2018, where she was part of an experimental clinical trial that focused on a particular genetic mutation found in Gabi’s tumor.

While in Boston, her parents said, she was in the hands of the best doctors in the country and some of the most caring nurses. Throughout her ten-month battle with cancer, Gabi was embraced by members of the Rockville Centre community, who wanted to help support pediatric cancer patients and find cures for diseases like hers.

Gabi’s father Nick Pellicani expressed his gratitude for the tremendous show of support and generosity from the community, which once again, made this year’s Golfing for Gabi fundraiser so successful.

“Working to find better treatments for those with brain cancer is (about) more than just continuing Gabi’s legacy,” Pellicani said. “It’s also about giving hope and a future to so many others that deserve it.”

Many forms of pediatric cancer, including glioblastoma, differ from those found in adults. However, according to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, only four percent of federal funding for cancer research goes to help stop pediatric cancer.

This figure is even more alarming, specifically, in regards to glioblastoma, which, according to The Brain Tumour Charity, has an average survival time of only 12 to 18 months. Nearly 25 percent of patients survive the diagnosis more than one year, while only five percent of patients will survive more than five years. 

In order to meet this unmet need and accelerate research, all of the funding raised during the golf outing is dedicated to research and clinical trials activities conducted at the Dana-Farber Institute. In addition to supporting clinical trials, like the ones Gabi participated in, funding also goes towards research efforts that identify specific genetic mutations and corresponding therapeutic treatments that can improve and prolong the lives of children with this terrible disease.

For more information on the annual fundraiser visit GolfingForGabi.com. Donations in support of brain cancer research can also be made in Gabi’s memory via Bit.ly/GolfingForGabi.