Friends raise funds for cancer patients
Special to The Vindicator
COMMUNITY HELP: Elvis and Jill Caraballo of Boardman have five children, A.J., 20, Ariana, 18; Michael, 13; Lexi, 10; and Nick, 8. The couple is battling cancer, and some community members are organizing a benefit golf outing to raise money for the family.
By Denise Dick
A benefit golf outing is Saturday at Pine Lakes Golf Course.
BOARDMAN — It’s difficult for a family when one parent gets a cancer diagnosis. That difficulty is doubled for the five children of Elvis and Jill Caraballo.
Elvis was diagnosed in January with bile duct cancer. In May, doctors diagnosed Jill, his wife of 25 years, with breast cancer.
Paul Rovnak, owner of Classic Bakery, is organizing a benefit golf outing to raise money for the family.
“Everyone who knows them, knows they are good people,” Rovnak said of the township couple.
The event is Saturday at Pine Lakes Golf Course, Hubbard, with an 8 a.m. shotgun start. It’s a four-person scramble and $325 per team. Rovnak said some single entrants will be golfing and those arrangements may be made by calling him at (330) 204-3923.
The Caraballos have five children, A.J., 20; Ariana, 18; Michael, 13, Lexi. 10; and Nick, 8.
“They’re taking it day by day,” said Myrna Dilullo, Elvis’s sister. “There are good days and bad days.”
The three older children are aware of their parents’ illnesses but don’t talk about it, Dilullo said. “The younger ones know that their parents are sick, but I don’t think they know the severity of it — and they don’t want them to know.”
Jill, whose cancer has spread to her spine, is being treated with medication before surgery expected later this year. Elvis has been consulting with a doctor in Pittsburgh who says he may be able to help him, Dilullo said.
Rovnak met Elvis through the bakery business.
“Elvis has been in the bakery business all of his life and I grew up in the bakery business,” he said. “My father owned Mr. Paul’s Bakery.”
He described Elvis as someone who likes to joke around, but he also shies from much attention.
Elvis began feeling poorly in December, Rovnak said.
“He didn’t say a word to anyone because he didn’t want to ruin Christmas for his family,” he said
Saturday’s golf outing isn’t the first time people have come together to raise money for the family.
Last month, Boardman Community Baseball sponsored a home run derby fundraiser.
The Caraballo family was active with the youth baseball organization.
Earlier this year, family friends conducted a spaghetti dinner fundraiser. “The Boardman community has been outstanding,” Dilullo said. “Seeing the community getting together for Elvis and his family has been tremendous.”
She learned through talking to others at the fundraisers about all of the people Elvis and Jill have helped through the years.
“They’re just blown away by” the community support, Dilullo said of Elvis and Jill. “I tell them, you’re getting back what you’ve done for other people.”
Rovnak hopes the money raised at the golf outing can help too.
“We want to help out in any way we possibly can,” he said.