ROTARY SPEAKER - ANDY TERRANOVA
Andy Teranova is a former member of our club. He had been in our club for ten years, culminating in serving as club president. He told us stories of how Rotary enriched not only his life, but his family's lives as well. One story he told was how he & his sons served at the food bank one year, on the same day as his sons' big game against Canisius. The experience affected his boys so much that the next year, same game, his sons insisted on starting the day of the game at the food bank, and it became a tradition every year after that.
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About 3 years ago, Andy was diagnosed with stage 3C colon cancer. He said that he was preparing to die, and if not for the help of his family, and especially his wife acting as caregiver, he would have. But she and his sons helped him to fight the disease and instead of preparing to die, they helped him to live. The experience became spiritual and caused him to re-connect with God. He knew he was saved for a reason, so he sat down one day to write some notes, and ended up writing the first three chapters of a book on the experience titled "Fight Back: Mental Techniques for Fighting the Biggest Bully in Life." His wife assisted him by writing the next 3 chapters, and together they completed the book which is a compilation of suggestions, hints, and anecdotes to help people through the struggles of fighting cancer. The book contains humor, which Andy says is imperative in the fight against this disease.
To date the self published book has sold over 2500 copies, the profits of which go to help support caregivers of cancer and cardiac patients. One of the ways Andy is doing just that is to issue lavender cards (the color representing cancer and caregiving) to local caregivers, such as wives, husbands, mothers, children of cancer and cardiac patients, which can be used at specific restaurants for 1/2 off meals for an entire dinner party. The bill for the free half is sent to Andy, who promptly pays it. Andy is hoping his book is picked up by a national publisher so he can take his message across North America