Hospital Celebrates Survivors of Childhood Cancer with Scholarship Program

Several local students are among this year's winners of the Daniel Brooks Memorial Educational Award for Students with Cancer, which provides college scholarships to former patients of the pediatric oncology program at Stony Brook University Medical Center.

East Setauket resident Vincent Leombruno, Stony Brook resident David Russo, St. James resident Peter Kanuika, Centereach resident Krista Frazier, Port Jefferson Station residents Ryan Neff and Anthony Raccasi, and Stony Brook University students Justin Somerville and Lauren Romaniello were among this year's 23 recipients.

The scholarship is given in memory of Daniel Brooks, who survived leukemia as a teen, overcame a learning disability, and went on to become an educator in special education. In 2002, his life ended suddenly in a fatal car accident.

"He never allowed his illness to stop him from graduating on time and from having fun," said Brooks' mother, Maggie Pearl.

Because they shared so many experiences, Pearl said, Brooks had a special way of reaching his students.

"These kids looked up to him as if he were a superhero," she said. "He had a gift of turning negative into positive."

Among those who survive childhood cancers, statistics have shown that as adults they tend to be underemployed, less integrated into society, and achieve less academically than peers who have not experienced childhood cancer treatment, according to Dr. Robert Parker, director of pediatric hematology and oncology.

"Our goal has not only been to cure the cancer, but also to enable them to become a fully productive adult," Parker said. "Education is a pathway to be able to attain your goals."

A total of $125,000 in scholarship funds has been given to 148 recipients through this program since its inception in 2003.

"It makes a huge difference for me. A part time job doesn't pay for the supplies I need for school," said Romaniello, who lives with her grandparents in Nesconset and is currently working on an 18-credit semester as a student in the university's School of Social Welfare. Romaniello, now 22, survived a tumor on her pituitary gland when she was 17.

Somerville, a technology systems management major from Medford, overcame Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 16. He said his treatment at SBUMC influenced his decision to attend Stony Brook University. He addressed the crowd at Thursday night's reception with a message of thanks for the doctors, nurses, and Brooks family.

"It's really meaningful to me that this is where this is coming from," Somerville said.