A Real South Jersey Cancer Warrior Has Passed – RIP Chrissy

I just got word that Chrissy Degennaro died on Monday. The news hit me harder than I even expected. Chrissy was such a fighter in her cancer battle, I believe I actually thought she would eventually beat cancer somehow.

Chrissy was one of those people you remembered. She made a real impression. I met her when I started volunteering at Gilda's Club South Jersey about 15 years ago.

As her son, Zach, points out in a Go Fund Me page for the family, Chrissy had quite a battle with cancer...

Chrissy my mom has been battling multiple myeloma for the past 15 years of her life. She has done over 20 chemotherapy treatments, 2 stem cells transplants, and 2 car-t cell transplants. My mom was diagnosed when I was one and a half.

Chrissy would go to support meetings and functions at Gilda's' Club South Jersey and bring little Zach with her. Zach grew up playing in the kid's wing of Gilda's Club, Noogieland.

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From time to time, Chrissy would call me on the studio line at the radio station, usually looking for concert tickets for a show she wanted to see or as a gift for some other friend who had cancer.

Chrissy was very giving and kind. Melanie, a fellow cancer warrior, who wrote to tell me that Chrissy had died, had this memory of her...

I know a few selfless people, but only Chrissy Fredlund Degennaro can top the list. She gave up her spot at Mary's Place by the Sea for me once. She organized gift card drives for those in need. She arranges for hospital staff to get treats. She takes care of everyone all while fighting the relentless beast that has touched and taken too many.

One night, Chrissy and I had a online conversation, and she said she heard me talking on my radio show about going to a military school in high school. She asked which one. I looked our conversation up on my phone after I heard she had died.

When I told her Valley Forge Military Academy, she told me that she had gone to a military school called Randolph Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia for two years in high school. I asked her why...

I was a little rambunctious. lol

In March of 2021 I had to call 911 for a brain tumor in which she was sent to cooper hospital to get emergency brain surgery. The tumor was much larger than expected and it went all the way down to the back of her skull. Due to this they would not remove all of it. She made a decent recovery, but shortly after in May 2021 there were more tumors found.

Only after a few days of radiation it got too bad and she was sent back to the hospital. The multiple myeloma and tumors become out of control. Even down to her last final days she still looked out for others and even gave donuts to her nurses because she loves doing acts of kindness. As of June 10th 2021 she is in hospice at home.