Doreen DeCandia, Kristin DiFoglio, Executive Director of NY Chapter of JDRF, Kyler Hale, Associate Executive Director of NY Chapter of JDRF and Joseph DeCandia. Patricia Adams/The Forum Newsgroup
Howard Beach residents came out in full force to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation as they hosted an exclusive cocktail party in conjunction with the Gurino family of Howard Beach and Bella Magazine. The event was held at Tiro A. Segno, in Manhattan, on Friday evening.
Linda Buononcountri-Gurino and son Anthony
More than 500 people joined the evening’s hosts, Joe Mure and Linda Buononcountri-Gurino, who shared their personal experiences as parents of children with juvenile diabetes. “It changes your whole life,” said Buononcountri-Gurino, thinking for another minute, she revises the statement, “it changes the lives of the entire family.” Her son Anthony, 12, diagnosed 8 years ago, has to have his finger pricked through the night to make sure there is no fluctuation in his sugar. The mother of three is up at 2 a.m. and again at 5 to make sure everything is okay. “If it goes too high, he needs an insulin shot; if it drops we have to get sugar into him. Juice, candy, anything that will get him up and out of danger.”
For Joe Mure, the moment of truth came when his son, Michael, 10, got in trouble at school for asking to go to the bathroom too many times in one day. Both Michael’s parents realized something was very wrong and raced him to the hospital where they received the grim diagnosis.
Joe Mure
And for other parents, it’s the memories of the close calls that haunt them always. Doreen DeCandia says she will never forget the day when her son’s classmate came up to her car at dismissal and said “Come quick. Something’s wrong with Jacob.” And DeCandia feared the worst. She found him on the floor near a stairwell. His sugar had dropped dangerously low and he was barely conscious. “A diabetic coma or stroke can come at any time when a sugar change is not addressed. Essentially, children with this disease are time bombs.”
Guests lined up in an outside tent to get their dishes filled with an array of Italian dishes all donated by Angelo Gurino of Ragtime Gourmet Market in Howard Beach. Gurino and wife Ann Marie have gotten extremely involved in JDRF since it struck their family. “You never really understand the toll this can take on a family until you see it first hand,” said Ann Marie Gurino who says she and her husband will keep their efforts going strong until a cure is found.
By Patricia Adams
Angelo and Ann Marie Gurino
