BY ROSE ADAMS
Locals strung golden ribbons
across Bay Ridge on Sept.
16 to raise awareness of pediatric
cancer and memorialize local
children who have lost their
lives to the illness, such as Olivia
Boccuzzi, Frankie Loccisano,
and Sally Kabel, according
to the event’s organizers.
“We’ve had so many children
in the community who
have families that have battled
pediatric cancer, so we
wanted to have this as an education
platform,” said one of
the event’s organizers, Nicole
Kabel, who lost her daughter,
Sally, to leukemia in 2018.
During the sixth annual
“Go Gold” event, nearly 20
volunteers tied hundreds of
golden ribbons to trees and
poles up and down Third and
Fifth Avenues, in neighborhood
parks, and in subway
stations. Each ribbon was accompanied
by a unique card
that listed facts about pediatric
cancer — a change from
prior years, said Kabel.
“I think it had the most
purpose in that it wasn’t just
about going gold, it was also
about educating,” she said,
noting that in previous years,
many locals didn’t know what
the ribbons symbolized.
September marks not just
Childhood Cancer Awareness
Month, but also the two-year
anniversary of the death of sixyear
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old Sally Kabel, who was
just ten months old when she
was diagnosed with infant leukemia.
Neighbors know Sally
as “Sweet Sally Sunshine” —
a combination of Nicole and
her husband, Matthew’s nicknames
for her — and remember
Sally for her cheerful disposition,
Nicole said.
“Everybody fell in love
with her. She captured everybody’s
heart,” she said. “She
had such a way about her. She
was such a well-loved child
and always is remembered.”
The community supported
the family from the moment
Sally was diagnosed, bringing
meals and organizing fundraisers
and blood drives. Kabel
said the efforts not only
helped uplift the family, but
also introduced them to many
other Bay Ridge locals.
“They rallied around her
from the very start,” she said.
“Most of them were not people
that we knew, they were people
that showed up.”
Nicole and Matthew have
organized the “Go Gold” event
since 2014, but said they tried to
involve more of the community
this year to expand outreach.
“On every corner there was
a gold ribbon,” Nicole said, adding
that the organizers worked
to place the ribbons in high-traffi
c areas. “We tried to be more
specifi c and purposeful about
getting people’s attention.”
A friend of the Kabels who
helped organize the event said
that each fact card included
information about the grave
impact of childhood cancer
and a QR code that links to resources
and places to donate.
“We tried to make each card
different, so when people walked
down Third Avenue, they’d see
a different fact on every block,”
said Courtney McDermid.
Kabel said that the event
brought the community together
and helped remind attendees
of their blessings, despite
the pandemic.
“It puts things in perspective.
It can be so much worse
in so many ways. You need
that levity sometimes to look
at the good things you have,”
she said.
Sally Kabel was six when she died
from leukemia. Matthew Kabel
Nicole Kabel hangs a golden ribbon in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness
Month and in memory of her daughter, Sally, by Russell Pedersen
Playground in Bay Ridge. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Bay Ridge goes gold
Locals hang ribbons for pediatric cancer
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