Lindenhurst Gathers to Support Renna Family

Hundreds of residents and students gathered at the this past Sunday for the Christina Renna Foudation, Inc.'s .

The walk and blood drive are part of the family’s yearly event schedule, which also includes a golf outing, fishing outing and gala at the on January 13, 2012.

The number of people who came to show support for the Renna family’s foundation was ”overwhelming”, said Christina’s mother, Rene, who was there with her husband Phil and sons R.J. and Philip.

Indeed, there were close to 400 walkers, representing a cross-section of school athletic teams, teachers, neighbors and friends. Many wore gold shoe laces since gold symbolizes awareness of children’s cancer causes.

“Christina was an athlete. I thought that this was something she would've appreciated,” her father, Phil, said.

A number of local businesses also helped promote the event. Lindenhurst bakeries put stickers on their products promoting the event while other merchants had donation boxes in their stores and offered discounts for needed supplies. donated the gold bows that decorated the village.

The community has come together to help the family of Christina Renna raise money and awareness for organizations doing research into the lesser known forms of cancer that each year claim thousands of lives.

Christina lost her two-year battle against a rare form of cancer at the age of 16 in 2007, and since then, through the family-formed foundation named after her, the Rennas have been waging their own unique battle against the disease.

In fact, it's taken the Rennas all the way to Washington, DC, where they worked successfully with the National Children’s Research Centre and CureSearch to petition for a bill that will, over time, see $150 million going to support the creation of a protocol for research into rare forms of cancer.

Christina’s father works for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a Long Island facility that does such research, and the family’s efforts have already resulted in almost $75,000 in donations going to the lab for its continued work in that area.

“The problem with forms of cancer like the one that struck Christina,” he said, “is that they just don’t have the first clue how to treat it. They basically throw everything they have at it. And what do you do when you realize that’s the only thing [the doctors] can do for you?”

Some of the money raised by the family’s foundation each year "goes towards scholarships for deserving students in the Lindenhurst school district," Phil Renna said.

Some of the money also goes to Make-A-Wish, an organization that provided Christina and her family with the opportunity to take the trip to Disney World that she'd always wanted.

“We’ve been so blessed by the response to all of this. We used to do charitable work, but it became so different when Christina became ill. You realize how much easier it is to give than receive. But then you also realize how incredible people can be,” said Rene.

She's trademarked a slogan for the family’s efforts: “A Prayer, a Wish, and a Dream of a Cancer Free World.”

And it seems that with the efforts like those at Sunday's event might bring that slogan to reality.

For more information about the foundation and events, contact Phil Renna at 631-225-2074 or visit the website.

Editor's Note: Look for a look back at the September 18 event .