News & Stories

Turning Heartbreak Into Help for Cancer Patients

January 22, 2025

Gina has raised nearly $100,000 for Smilow Cancer Hospital, for cancer patients and in memory of her brother Chip

Gina, pictured on Hat Day 2024, with her former student Chloe. Hat Day is especially meaningful for Chloe, who survived cancer as a baby. Gina and her students raise about $3,000 on Hat Day each year for cancer research and patient care.

Gina and her three siblings were born into a big, noisy, loving Italian family. Growing up, Sunday dinners were the priority of every weekend. Gina, her sisters, and her younger brother, showed up without fail for family time, pasta, and all the trimmings.

Gina, Nancy, Chip, and Mia stayed as close as can be into adulthood, sharing their love of music, sports, board games — and each other.

So, when Chip, a sportswriter for the New Haven Register (beloved for his weekly column, Sunday Gravy), was diagnosed with a rare, incurable cancer at age 46, his sisters and his mother, Shirley, were utterly devastated. The terrible news was made even tougher by a horrible sense of déjà vu — Gina’s Dad, Lou, had passed away from cancer in 1991.

Gina and her sisters rallied to care for Chip. They took him to doctor’s appointments, and when he had to stay in the hospital, they visited him every day. They played music — including Van Halen, one of Chip’s favorites — and rocked out in his hospital room at Smilow. And when he needed it, Gina, Nancy, and Mia moved into his home to provide round-the-clock care.

When Chip passed away in August 2020, Gina longed for a positive way to channel her grief. She had ridden in Closer to Free the previous year, and one day while scrolling the CTF website, she noticed the featured list of Top Fundraisers.

“I recognized the names of many on that list,” she remembers. “I knew exactly who they were riding for. That’s what sealed it for me — I wanted my name at the top of that list because that’s my brother’s name, my father’s name. And losing them both to cancer was too much to bear.”

Getting creative for Chip

Participating in the CTF ride was a start, but it wouldn’t get Gina to the top of the list. She knew she had to get creative. She began brainstorming fundraising ideas, and she hasn’t stopped yet.

For starters, Gina organizes countless raffles for all sorts of prizes — YETI coolers filled with drinks, gift cards and baskets from local businesses, or tickets to a music festival. The most popular prize is Mia’s legendary homemade eggplant parmigiana. The price of a raffle ticket? Fifty-one dollars and fifty cents, in honor of the siblings’ shared love of Van Halen and their famous album, “5150.”

The sisters host an event each year at New England Brewing Company, the home base for Gina’s CTF team. There’s always a big crowd, live music, a raffle, and a silent auction.

The event that wins the cuteness prize is especially dear to Gina’s heart. Each year, she hosts Hat Day at the elementary school in Orange, where she teaches first grade. For a donation of any amount, kids can wear their favorite hats to school on the Friday before the CTF ride.

So far, Gina has raised nearly $100,000 for Smilow Cancer Hospital, and she’s just getting started. “By now, people are ready for me, they see me coming,” she says with a laugh. “They know I’m going to be fundraising for six months of the year, and that I’m going to come up with something new.”

“It’s my way of honoring him and keeping his memory alive,” Gina says. “It’s a way of paying tribute. Everyone at Smilow was so kind, so patient, so respectful, to Chip and to us. We want to give back.”