My friend Tony Giardina would be thrilled to hear I am getting to know his grandson Jake<\/p>\n
But not this way.<\/p>\n
Jacob \u201cJake\u201d Giardina is a patient at Craig Hospital in Colorado in the beginning stages of a long journey trying to recover from a severe spinal cord injury incurred when he dove into his cousin\u2019s backyard pool about a month ago. A pool he dove into hundreds of times before. He is 23 years old.<\/p>\n
I want to know Jake because I want you to know Jake.<\/p>\n
He and his family need our prayers, our support and our financial assistance and knowing him will help us do that. One way to accomplish the latter is to attend a fundraiser next Sunday at the Red Mill tavern in Pittston, a place where Jake worked. More on that in a minute.<\/p>\n
Jake\u2019s accident and the fundraiser were brought to my attention by my friends Billy Joyce and Shawn Casey, a couple of successful guys with big personalities and even bigger hearts.<\/p>\n
The best way for me to learn about Jake is to talk with him or his parents, I told the guys, but I had no intention of disturbing them during this crucial and emotionally draining time. They understood and agreed. And promptly put me in touch with Angel Noone, a close friend of the family.<\/p>\n
Through Angel I was able to communicate with Mary and Anthony Giardina and even Jake, himself. They are all at Craig, a world-renowned rehabilitation center specializing in treating individuals with spinal cord injuries. It was founded in 1907 and was highly recommended to them. His parents are confident this is where Jake needs to be.<\/p>\n
With Angel\u2019s assistance, I learned what a remarkable young man Jake is and what a solid, loving family the Giardinas are.<\/p>\n
The more I heard about this family, the more I thought of the 1981 best-selling book \u201cWhen Bad Things Happen to Good People.\u201d In it, author Rabbi Harold S. Kushner says when bad things happen to us, God offers comfort and strength, and the community support needed to survive it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a very religious and spiritual family,\u201d is one of the first things Jake\u2019s parents told Angel to tell me. \u201cWe have great faith in our Lord and the power of prayer. We are deeply planted in that faith to help us through Jacob\u2019s healing and recovery process.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jake is a 2021 graduate of Pittston Area High School where he played baseball. While contemplating a career path, he has been a driver for Northeast Eagle and a bartender at the Red Mill.<\/p>\n
But the role he enjoys and cherishes most, I\u2019ve learned from his parents, is that of big brother. His sister Isabella, 21, is a senior biology and pre-med major at the University of Pittsburgh where she also plays club field hockey. His brother Silvio, 19, is a sophomore at Lehigh University majoring in finance and playing shortstop for the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cJacob is very proud that he was responsible for naming Silvio,\u201d his parents wrote. He was 4 at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe and his siblings are extremely close and spend all their time together,\u201d they added. \u201cHe is their biggest supporter and confidant, and Isabella and Silvio think Jake is the absolute best brother. He is super kind and has the biggest heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
They asked that I share this: \u201cOur family is intact and for that we are extremely grateful. Our support system is magnificent. We have the greatest community, friends and family and we are leaning on them every day through this process. We will never be able to thank everyone enough for this outpouring of love for Jacob. We are a positive and large, loving family. We will take each day at a time, celebrate each \u2018win\u2019 Jacob has on his road to recovery and be with him every step of the way. Jacob is literally the glue in our family.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Jacob made a specific request to add this in his exact words: \u201cI am thankful for my best friends Zach Elko and Tyler Wassel who responded immediately, my cousin Joseph O\u2019Malley for calling 9-1-1, and our greatest friend Michael Callahan and my sister Isabella for their continued CPR until EMS arrived. I also want to thank our community for standing behind me and supporting me and my family. Right now, I am working hard every day at my recovery. I am determined and committed to do the work necessary for my body to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fundraiser at the Red Mill is from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.\u00a0 Cash donations will be accepted at the door. There will be raffles, a cash bar and limited food menu.<\/p>\n
Donations may be made online at helphopelive.org\/campaign\/28253\/.<\/p>\n
Cards and well wishes may be sent to Jake at Craig Hospital, 3425 S. Clarkson St. Englewood, CO 80113. Attention: Jacob Giardina<\/p>\n
Ed Ackerman writes The Optimist every Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"My friend Tony Giardina would be thrilled to hear I am getting to know his grandson Jake But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":290140,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[803,1559,28,178,180,179,25220],"class_list":["post-290139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-luzerne-county","tag-opinion","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-the-optimist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=290139"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290139\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/290140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}