‘Cones for Cancer’ : Morristown’s Creamery needs your help, Dec. 5

Lori Ann Giardina has been serving comfort food at her family’s South Street Creamery since it opened in 1999.

Now she needs some comfort from us.

If you buy ice cream at the Morristown shop on Dec. 5, 2014, every dime will be donated to research into a rare, virulent form of cancer afflicting Lori Ann’s husband, Jeff Giardina.

“This is the love of my life,” said Lori Ann, whose sunny world turned dark on Thanksgiving 2013. When Jeff awoke that morning, something was terribly wrong with his right eye.

“He said it was like looking through a dirty screen door, with floaters,” Lori Ann recounted.

The diagnosis was devastating. Jeff, 45, has ocular melanoma, a cancer of the eye that has no cure.

Radiation and three surgeries could not save his vision in the affected eye. The disease has spread to Jeff’s liver, spine and rib cage. The median prognosis for patients with metastatic ocular melanoma is two years, according to Lori Ann.

“First, you ask your doctor, ‘What do we do?'” she said. “The doctors are doing everything they can to control the speed at which the tumors grow. We’re hoping that this new treatment that we are supporting on Dec. 5 will save Jeff’s life.”

Dr. Takami Sato of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia is striving to perfect a technique for identifying melanoma cells in the bloodstream and killing them before they can cause tumors. The research, if successful, might benefit patients of eye-, liver- and colon cancers, Lori Ann said.

Donations to Uveal Melanoma Research in honor of Jeffrey Giardina can be made online,  or by mail, to: The Jefferson Office of Institutional Advancement, Attn: Dr. Sato Challenge, 125 S. 9th St., Suite 700, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

The Giardinas make monthly visits to Philadelphia, explaining to sons Christian, 8, and Justin, 6, that “Daddy has a boo-boo in his body and it’s growing, and we’ve got to go to the doctor to make Daddy feel better.”

Jeff still works long hours as an operations manager for a factory, although his wife said that specialized chemotherapy has sapped his energy and tested his spirit.

“The treatments drain you. But when he gets stronger, he has that hope again,” said Lori, who has continued serving Creamery customers with the same good cheer that attracted Jeff’s attention way back in ’99.

‘LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT’

As Lori tells it, she was working 80-hour weeks, and Jeff was living on Long Island.

His sister in Randolph brought him to her favorite Morristown ice cream shop and pointed out Lori, “the happiest girl you’ll ever meet.”

“I looked across the room and there he was. It was love at first sight,” Lori remembered.

That may be, but it took Jeff three months of shop visits and many Kahlua Madness ice cream cones to ask Lori on a date. A few weeks after their date in Lambertville, they were visiting each other’s families on Christmas. On Saturday they celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary.

“He’s the most loving, wonderful dad. All he cares about is his family,” Lori said.

The community is starting to rally round the cause.

Hugs, encouragement and donations are coming from Creamery customers.

“There really is strength in numbers. They are incredible, beautiful inside and out!” Lori Ann said.

Teachers at the boys’ Hillcrest Elementary School have gotten behind the  Cones for Cancer day.

And the Assumption School will donate $1 for every student who leaves the school uniform at home and dresses casually on Dec. 5.

If you have a sweet tooth, do something sweet that day.  Treat some friends to a round of cones at the Creamery.

And do one more thing for Lori Ann. Get a yearly eye exam from your ophthalmologist.

“I feel like we’re going to beat this,” she said.

The Creamery is at 146 South St., Morristown. Hours on Dec. 5 are noon to 8:30 pm .