Fight With Cindy, Saturday At Pub 25: Fundraiser For Cindy Miller

By Shannon Hicks

Family and friends of Newtown resident Cindy Miller are rallying around the cancer patient, helping raise awareness of melanoma while also raising funds to help Ms Miller pay mounting medical bills for treatment.

Ms Miller was diagnosed seven months ago with Stage 4 metastatic melanoma. The disease is incurable, but treatable, and she has been undergoing treatment through trial therapies and one FDA approved drug at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven. However, a high deductible insurance plan and limitations of what her insurance will cover is quickly becoming overwhelming for the family.

A fundraiser is being planned for Saturday, November 10, at Pub 25 American Grille in Plaza South. The event will begin at 5 pm and will include live music, a silent auction and raffle, a 50-50 raffle with a twist, food donated by the Main Street South restaurant, and melanoma awareness bracelets.

“Pub 25 was just amazing,” Deb Stiewing, a friend of Ms Miller’s and one of the organizers for the November 10 event, said this week. “We went to them and without hesitation they said, ‘Yes, we can help.’”

In addition to Ms Stiewing, the coordinators for the fundraiser are Cindy’s husband, Jim, and her three children, Kristine Vichiola, Steven Vichiola, and Taylor Miller; along with friends Jack Vichiola, PJ Cochrane, and Kyle Lyddy.

Admission for Saturday is $20, which includes food donated by the restaurant as well as one draft beer or glass of house wine.

Leigh Richardson will be performing from 5 to 9 pm, and then DJ Roc will take over from 9 until closing on Saturday.

A Joke Telling Contest will be held, with the winner being given half of the money collected in the 50-50 raffle.

Silent auction items as of early this week included a baseball signed by Andy Pettitte, and a baseball signed by Ron Darling, tickets to Jets games, Live Nation tickets, gift certificates from local merchants, and custom baskets. Additional items continue to be arranged for. Anyone who would like to donate a raffle or silent auction prize is invited to send an e-mail to vichiolak@yahoo.com with details.

“Cindy has made it abundantly clear that should she succumb to this, any money raised beyond what will cover her medical expenses will go toward melanoma research,” Ms Stiewing said this week. “It will not go to the family or anywhere else. She is dedicated to raising melanoma awareness.”

Online, Ms Miller has been candid about her background, diagnosis and fears, and progress.

“Growing up on the beach in Fairfield CT, the furthest thing on my or anybody else’s mind is cancer,” she wrote for Cindy’s Story, one page of FightWithCindy.com, a website her children have created to help publicize Ms Miller’s story and awareness-raising efforts.

“Suntan lotion for us back then was baby oil, with SPF of 0,” the post continued. “Twenty-five years later I came to realize the consequences for having the ‘best tan.’

“My cancer has spread into my blood stream and has deposited itself in my lungs and has hit various other organs,” Ms Miller shares later in the post. “During the summer, I was on an experimental trial with Bristol Meyers Squib. These treatments shrunk the cancer but took a toll on my liver. I was removed from the trial and began treatment in September with a drug called Yervoy.

“Melanoma is not the most prevalent of cancers but can be the most deadly,” she says even further into her post. “It is incurable by today’s treatment practices. Early detection is the best prevention. Even more important is the follow-up after the melanoma is removed. Signs may not be visible from the outside. Yearly X-rays and blood tests are essential if you’ve been diagnosed with melanoma. Don’t sit back and think ‘The doctor removed it so I’m good.’ Catch it early. Research is one the upswing, but we must get awareness out there for more research to be done.”

Reservations are not needed for Fight With Cindy, but additional information is available from Debbie Stiewing at 203-426-3074.

Online donations can be made by anyone who would like to help but cannot attend Saturday’s fundraiser. Visit www.FightWithCindy.com to learn about that process, as well as for additional information about Ms Stiewing and her effort to raise awareness.

Pub 25 American Grille is within Plaza South, at 266 South Main Street in Newtown.