"Superheroes"

Speech by Jennifer Tumminello
7th Annual Denis S. Barry Golf Outing

Go On. Admit it. Something magical happened when you were a kid and found just the right towel to tuck into the back of your shirt to turn it into a cape. You immediately were transformed into your favorite superhero with super powers. Superman had nothing on you! Funny thing about superheroes is that they all have a secret identity and their everyday personas were always the people you would least expect to be extraordinary. And yet…they were!

The French novelist Romain Roland once wrote, “A hero is someone who simply does what he can.” We all have the ability to do what we can. We all have the ability to be a hero. Denis Barry knew that. Denis had been a devoted volunteer with the Marty Lyons Foundation and taught many important lessons, one of which was to make room in our lives to help others who are less fortunate. Isn’t that what all superheroes do?

The Denis S. Barry Foundation, which has partnered with the Marty Lyons Foundation, aid families who need financial assistance in order to provide a proper burial for a child who has died as a result of a terminal illness. (Name removed) is one such child. He has been battling a rare cancer (Rhabdomysarcoma) since he was 10. He has had multiple sessions of chemotherapy but unfortunately had to have his right arm amputated. With the relapse, the cancer has spread through his bloodstream and into his bones. The family is struggling to make ends meet for his final stage and have outreached to the Marty Lyons and Denis S. Barry Foundations for financial help. It is the goal of the Denis Barry Foundation to be able to assist him, and his grieving family, generously in death as The Marty Lyons Foundation is not able to have the luxury of time to do something for him and his family while he is still able to enjoy one last happy moment.

He is certainly a hero. Most adults could not bear the thought of coping with an illness such as his. However, we can be the heroes here too and you don’t need a cape…just a heart. Please consider supporting both the Marty Lyons Foundation and the Denis S. Barry Foundation so that families in such need at such a difficult time will know that they are not alone, that there is hope, and that Superheroes are indeed real!