Thieves can't rob Vaughan cancer victim of love for police, fire services

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 13, 2017
By Tim Kelly

York Region's 911 brothers and sisters have come together quickly to right a wrong for a young Vaughan cancer victim.

Deandra Goncalves, 9, who has osteosarcoma - the same type of bone cancer that afflicted Terry Fox - and has lost her left femur to the disease, was the victim of a triple theft late last month.

Three of the child's cancer donation boxes, all of which had her picture affixed to them, were stolen by thieves in locations in short order, thefts which made York Regional Police Constable Toni Passarelli, "sick to my stomach, I was so sad."

That's when Passarelli, who teaches Deandra as part of her duties in 35 York Region schools, decided to swing into action.

Working with her colleagues at York Regional Police and linking up with Vaughan Fire Services - Passarelli calls the team the "911 brothers and sisters" - the services collected a total of $3,270.92 to more than replace what was likely lost in the donation-box thefts.

More than just the money, though, the fire and police departments decided to go one better and present it all in person to Deandra and her family of mother Soraia, father Bruno, and sisters Vivian, 5, and Eva, 2, at their Vaughan home last week.

It happened to be Deandra's birthday last week, and Passarelli and company were eager to present a "Little Yellow Bucket" of smiles to the youngster.

But Deandra was in treatment at SickKids Hospital on that date so they had to wait until Friday. A big turnout, including superheroes Unity and United was there to greet the child and her family.

Deandra, said her mom, was a little "emotional" at first by all the unexpected attention, but told her later she was "really happy."

It's been a tough road for the child who had two rounds of chemo before an operation to remove a tumour on her femur, which was replaced by her tibia bone. She is now waiting to get fitted for a prosthetic device for the lost tibia bone.

For Passarelli, the chance to help Deandra was a great opportunity and she was thankful for the help of her colleagues.

"I told her (Deandra), the Big C (cancer) was being replaced by three other Cs - courage, compassion and community."