Pho­to: Jen­ny Capalbo

By Ryan Bologna
Oct. 3, 2020
Green­wich Free Press

The fam­i­ly of Char­lie Capal­bo and about 12 to 15 oth­er friends will be depart­ing from The Cos Cob­ber to walk a marathon to Fair­field to raise funds for pedi­atric can­cer around 7 a.m. on Sun­day, Oct. 4.

The fam­i­ly would nor­mal­ly go to Boston and walk for the Boston Marathon Jim­my Fund Walk. Because of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, the route they are walk­ing now is a vir­tu­al sub­sti­tute for all of the peo­ple that would nor­mal­ly par­tic­i­pate to do so all over the coun­try wher­ev­er is con­ve­nient to them.

Char­lie Capal­bo was diag­nosed with lym­phoblas­tic lym­phoma dur­ing his senior year in high school. While he was get­ting treat­ment for that, flu­id from a spinal tap for chemother­a­py revealed a new of can­cer called acute myeloid leukemia(AML).

Char­lie was treat­ed at Yale New Haven hos­pi­tal and Boston Children’s Hos­pi­tal. After a long recov­ery, rehab process and iso­la­tion peri­od from May through Novem­ber in 2019, he was allowed to attend col­lege in Jan­u­ary of 2020 at Fair­field University.

Char­lie was friends with Greenwich’s own Steven Sudell. They went on a ski trip togeth­er with the Sun­shine Kids in March of 2018 and crossed paths again when they under­went treat­ment at Yale New Haven Hospital.

The Capal­bo fam­i­ly is thank­ful that Char­lie is still alive to this day and that is what inspires them to par­tic­i­pate in events that ben­e­fit pedi­atric cancer.

Pho­to: Jen­ny Capalbo

“Our fam­i­ly just tries real­ly hard to be grate­ful all the time and remem­ber how lucky we are to actu­al­ly have him still alive,” Charlie’s moth­er Jen­ny said.

The fam­i­ly has met a large num­ber of fam­i­lies through­out Charlie’s treatments.

“We have count­ed like 50 some­thing fam­i­lies that we have got­ten to know,” Charlie’s father Antho­ny said.

Pho­to: Jen­ny Capalbo

The Capal­bo fam­i­ly cre­at­ed a team that any­one can still join for $5 with a com­mit­ment to raise $95. Chil­dren can also join for $5 with a com­mit­ment to raise $20. Par­tic­i­pants can walk any­where they choose and for what­ev­er dis­tance they desire.

The walk will take place this Sun­day, but dona­tions will be accept­ed through Oct. 31.

Funds raised go to Dana Far­ber, an out­pa­tient can­cer insti­tute and Boston Children’s Hos­pi­tal, an inpa­tient hos­pi­tal for chil­dren who need treat­ment. Those two hos­pi­tals work hand-in-hand.

Any­one who wants to par­tic­i­pate or donate to the cause should click here.

Pho­to: Jen­ny Capalbo