By Chéye Roberson
Sentinel Correspondent
A pillar of strength for his family, Salvatore Di Blasi, vows that he will not let suffering from stage-four stomach cancer get the best of him.
Although the Greenwich community may know Di Blasi, who turns 55 in September, best as a former co-owner and chef of one of the tastiest hometown landmark restaurants, Chicken Joe’s, his friends and family know him as a man who often went the extra mile to help others in need.
Di Blasi was one of the founders of Chicken Joe’s Ride for Kids, which raised funds for Kids in Crisis, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, St. Jude’s Hospital, an autism hospital in Stamford, a charity benefiting multiple sclerosis, and other charities that help children suffering from illnesses and disabilities. The ride went from Greenwich to Lake George in New York.
“We had a customer who had a kid that was diagnosed with a brain disease,” said Di Blasi. “We decided to do a ride for the kids. I was the leader with the car. I led the bicycles through the path. We raised $35,000 that time.”
“The first Ride for Kids was in 2007,” noted Joe Marini, owner of Chicken Joe’s. “He was definitely involved in that. He drove the support trucks with the mechanics and first aid on board.”
Marini said it was important to try and help many charities with the event. “We put it everywhere. To make sure many people get a piece of the pie. There’s a lot of people who need help,” he said.
Di Blasi now works at Decicco & Sons Supermarket in Harrison, N.Y.
“I just love cooking, I love to see the smile on people’s face when they have a good meal,” he said.
Di Blasi lived the motto “pay-it-forward” before he ever envisioned himself on the receiving end. As an otherwise healthy man experiencing difficulties with his stomach, he went in for a colonoscopy on April 1 at St. John’s Hospital in Port Chester. When he received his diagnosis of stomach cancer that April Fool’s Day, he said he kept waiting for someone to pop out and say “April Fools.” But no one did.
“My wife said, ‘It’s stomach cancer, but don’t worry, we’re going to fight it,” recalled Di Blasi.
Di Blasi and his wife, Lucy, recently returned home to Port Chester from the Cancer Center of America in Philadelphia. Di Blasi was having a lot of trouble holding down his food and is now has a feeding tube 24 hours a day.
He has surgery scheduled for Sept. 14 and a pre-op five days earlier. But his doctors say he cannot go in for the surgery if he weighs under 170 pounds. Di Blasi needs to gain more weight. Since Di Blasi’s diagnosis, he has lost about 60 pounds.
“I went from 225 to 160 in two and a half months,” said Di Blasi.
He can’t have any food by mouth and his medicine comes in the form of a suppository that is delivered through his feeding tube.
Di Blasi first went to Sloan Kettering Memorial Hospital in New York and did full chemotherapy for four to six months. After the chemotherapy, Di Blasi’s doctors were going to see if the tumor had shrunk so that they can go back in and remove it surgically.
However, Di Blasi said that his doctor at Sloan Kettering took surgery off the table and he couldn’t understand why.
“They said it would only extend my life by three to four years,” said Di Blasi.
In June, Di Blasi went to the Cancer Center of America, which performed several tests, including an MRI, X-Ray, and a CAT scan, and they told him he was a candidate for HIPEC, or hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, a highly concentrated chemotherapy treatment delivered directly to the abdomen during surgery.
“They said I was a strong person and I should be okay,” said Di Blasi. “They gave me life. I said, ‘I’m going to come out of this with this surgery.’”
After three chemotherapy treatments the doctors said that DiBlasi would be able to do the HIPEC procedure. He ended up with an infection and had to stop the chemo after two and a half weeks.
Di Blasi’s wife said that she gets a lot of help from her parents and her brothers and sister.
“Thank God we have family helping out. We were gone for two weeks and I didn’t have to worry whether the lights were going to get turned off or we would get evicted. I was able to just focus on him,” said Lucy. “Family is number one. Without family I don’t know where we’d be today. As bad as it gets, as hard as it’s been, I believe the key is to be positive. Belief. Praying to God and bringing all positive energy—we’re going to make it. We’re going to go for surgery.”
On Aug. 10 the couple celebrated their 30-year wedding anniversary.
“Last year he surprised me with a table at a restaurant. I posted about it on Facebook. I said you have to top this next year,” said Di Blasi’s wife. “This year we were at Cancer Center of America, and I said all I want is for them to come out and say you can do the surgery. And they did. I said to him, ‘You did top it.’”
Lucy Di Blasi said that in a situation where you’re caring for a loved one with a serious illness, it’s important that they see you being strong so that the loved one has the will to keep fighting.
“As much as it’s killing you, hold their hand, rub their back and tell them you’re going get them through this. The more they hear that, the better they feel,” she said.
The Di Blasi family is coming close to the end of a six-month period in which he received $156 a week from his job for medical leave.
Di Blasi has also received financial help from an account set up by his sister-in-law and froom funds raised by the Needs Clearing House.
“He’s fighting the fight,” said Marini. “We received a lot of help from the community. We held fundraisers, customers helped out, Joe Kaliko of the Needs Clearing House did a fundraiser, a lot of people dropped off checks.”
The family received three checks for $2,500, $1,000, and $500 from Needs Clearing House.
“My family, the Marinis, are doing the best we can. We’re all chipping in to do the best we can. Joe Kaliko, who was real nice, $7,000 he raised for the family.”
Di Blasi takes nutritional supplements to help give him more energy and help with the impact of the chemotherapy. When he feels weight of his struggle, his wife reminds him of his one-year-old granddaughter, Angelina.
“He was saying to me I can’t do this anymore. I said just think of her and how she needs you. God’s great, he’s going to get you through this,” said Lucy.
There is a video of Di Blasi playing with his one-year-old granddaughter that his wife plays for him in the hospital, which cheers him up. “She has this giggle,” Lucy said. “It keeps him going.”
