celebrates Over 1,200 attend annual event in Lake Success to hear success

BY JOSEPH D'ANDREA

Over 1,200 cancer survivors, medical professionals and others attended Northwell Health’s 16th annual Don Monti Cancer Survivors Day celebration at R.J. Zuckerberg Cancer Center in Lake Success Saturday.

At Northwell’s largest community outreach event encompassing all its cancer centers, two Long Island-based cancer survivors were invited to take part in the gathering.

Billy Joel’s original saxophonist, Richie Cannata, performed “New York State of Mind” for the crowd, and comedian John Ziegler gave keynote remarks, elevating the situation many including the two performers once found or still fnd themselves in, through humor.

Cannata was diagnosed with Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2017 and Ziegler was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2021. Both spoke of their experiences during hospitalization, their paths to recovery and why they believe raising awareness and encouraging cancer research is important.

Recounting the six months of treatment he received at Northwell’s North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, Cannata described what motivated him to push forward in his rehabilitation.

“[Being impaired due to cancer] was an easy way to check out and say, ‘OK, I’ve been around the world 20, 30 times, I’ve played great venues, I’ve brought my family to wonderful places, I made some great music,’” Cannata told Blank Slate Media. “But there was something inside of me — which was God — that said I wasn’t done. That put me in another gear, where I wanted to now prove to myself that I can get better.”

He elaborated on his eight-yearlong path to recovery: “Getting better was, for me, re-learning how to snap my fngers, write my name and play the saxophone again. I made a vow to my wife, Charlene, and my sisterin-law that I would play again. And that being such a strong force for me had me continue the chemotherapy, physical therapy and the hard work of getting back on my feet again and walking.”

Caroline Monti Saladino, president of the Don Monti Memorial Research Foundation, talked about her personal connection to the cause.

“You know, it’s hope, that’s the word,” she said. “[Today is] really a victory celebration, and it’s in my late brother’s name, who died when he was 16 of acute myeloid leukemia. But that was 52 years ago, and back then chemotherapy was primitive and bone marrow transplants were in more of a testing stage.”

Saladino explained that following her brother’s death, her family became involved with Northwell in their Cold Spring Harbor research labs, as well as raisingspecifc designated funds for the transplant program and helping to organize events such as Cancer Survivors Day.

“We do parties for the patients periodically,” she continued, “and when you look around at all the people during this event, you’ll say, ‘Wow, they look happy.’ I think they need that, to be together, and some of them have been coming back for many, many years. It’s a hopeful event, that’s the whole point.”

Dr. Richard Barakat, physician-inchief and director of Cancer Services and Research at Northwell Health

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