the art of success - Whatever Magazine

In The Community
‘How cancer made
me a better person’
andrew Mizzoni
was only nine
when he was
diagnosed with
a rare form
of cancer.
today, 10 years
later, he is
leading his own
personal battle
to help make
a difference in
children’s lives.
24 whateVer magazIne | SUmmer 2011
Young Andrew heads out for the first dinner-dance after his family launched the Andrew Mizzoni
Cancer Research Fund in 2001.
anDrew John mizzoni can recall the day like it
was yesterday.
he was just like any other nine-year-old boy,
enjoying school, happy to be with his family and
friends, playing lots of sports. Until one day, his
life changed forever.
“I still remember walking downstairs, and as I
walked into the kitchen where my parents were
having their breakfast, they suddenly said:
‘andrew, wait!’”
there was a bulge under his left eye which they
had never seen before.
“my mother began to feel under my eye and
noticed a definite difference between the two
eyes,” says mizzoni.
It was troubling enough that they decided to
seek medical assistance. they first visited a
local physician, but received no accurate diagnosis.
then, after several specialist appointments,
a receptionist at one doctor’s office
suggested that they take the boy to SickKids.
the parents wisely took her advice, and young
andrew was taken to the hospital for Sick
Children where he underwent a designated Ct
scan as well as various blood work.
“my parents and I then sat patiently in the 8th
floor waiting room pending the results. as time
stretched on, the waiting room cleared and my
parents and I were the only ones left there. I
played a game of cards with my father to pass
the time.”
Until finally, the doctor approached the doorway
with a grim look on his face. he sat down
and gave them the news: “andrew has cancer.”
his parents were heartbroken. their young son
was diagnosed with a very rare form of childhood
orbital cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma.
“the good thing about being diagnosed with
cancer as a child is that you don’t think anything
of it,” says mizzoni. “to quote Lance