By Katie Vasquez
Rob Graziani roams the halls of Stony Brook Cancer Center, but he’s not a patient: he’s here to bring joy to others along with first-time volunteer Patrick Carroll.
“It’s definitely acts of service to help people who need help,” said Graziani.
“It just makes me feel my heart’s full, just makes me feel happy to come here,” Carroll told Currents News, “and you know, see all the kids and put a smile on their face.”
Rob was adopted from a Saint Mother Teresa inspired orphanage in India at just 13 weeks old.
“The humbleness and quietness and power that Mother Teresa did, I think that was very much like my mother,” Graziani recalled.
His mother, Anne, lost her battle with breast cancer in 2016.
He remembers just a week before her death, how she lit up after going to a New York Mets baseball game.
“She lost all her hair. She got a Mets hat, and she had a Mets zippie right. We’re coming down the elevator and this guy goes, ‘ma’am, you look official.’ And she actually got, like, the biggest smile on her face,” said Graziani.
In 2017 he started the Anne V. Graziani fund in her honor to help patients with cancer.
“What we do is provide live entertainment or stream entertainment for cancer patients while they’re actively in treatments,” said Graziani.
The support os for patients like Payton McDaniel who is receiving treatment for leukemia at the Long Island hospital.
The 12-year-old got to throw out the first pitch at a recent Long Island Ducks game and get a tour of Yankee Stadium through the foundation.
He believes these opportunities help him through the tough days.
“It just gave me a little light into my life, you know? It was very special,” said McDaniel.
And Rob Graziani hopes it all makes his mom proud from heaven.
“I feel like it’s like passing it forward. It’s always made me feel like I was granted a gift to always pay it forward,” said Graziani.
He is looking at expanding the non profit further to help more patients battling cancer.
If you would like to learn more about the organization, or donate to their cause, just visit their website, http://www.avgfund.org.