Finding strength through faith, love and giving

Greg D’Angelo remembers his first date with his wife, Diane. “I’m not much of a talker, but she was so easy to talk to,” he recalls fondly. “Before we knew it, hours had passed and they were turning the chairs over at the restaurant.”

Greg and Diane continued spending time together every weekend. “We just liked being around each other,” says Greg. So much so that they were engaged a year after their first date and married a little over a year after that in April 1990.

Not long after they were married, Greg and Diane would face an unbelievable challenge that neither would have predicted. Diane had elevated white blood cell counts and swollen lymph nodes. After a few inconclusive tests, she was diagnosed with lymphoma and the diagnosis was later confirmed at Memorial Sloan Kettering in November 1990. In 2007, while waiting for a blood stem cell transplant, Diane started experiencing cognitive issues due to a viral brain infection. She passed away in May of 2008.

During their 18 years of marriage, Greg and Diane regularly attended church together. After Diane’s death, Greg wanted to find more meaning in his life through faith and the church. So, he became more involved, joining the church’s finance committee and the parish council.

“I was looking for something to help fill that empty space,” he shares. He attended and later helped out at a bereavement support group at a neighboring parish. “That group had meant so much to me—it was a great source of support.” When the person running that group was no longer able to do so, Greg helped to start a bereavement support group at his own parish.

About a year before learning that Diane needed a marrow transplant, Greg joined the NMDP Registry. Since then, he’s given multiple financial gifts to NMDP, including a recent planned gift from his estate.

Greg encourages others to give to organizations they feel passionate about. “These gifts were a way for me to not only keep Diane’s memory alive, but to help give hope to other patients and their families.” He adds, “Knowing my gift can make such an impact on someone’s life is very motivating.”

Like Greg, you can offer hope to patients and their families through a planned gift to NMDP. Contact Amy Bigot at amy.bigot@nmdp.org or (763) 406-8725 | Toll Free: (800) 507-54271 to learn more about the difference your gift can make.