‘I’ve always just been a funny guy. I always told jokes.’

Patchogue

“I was in the Air Force during Korea. I served for four years as a medic. I got to go on a lot of helicopters and worked in the emergency room. I even delivered a baby.

“My wife had passed away in 2014. We were married over 50 years. It was just very sudden. We never expected it. I moved to Patchogue about three years ago. I still work, I just work from home now. I’ve been with the same company for over 30 years.

“I had non-Hodgkins which has been in remission for at least seven years now. It hasn’t come back, but I also have bladder cancer. That’s the type of cancer that just keeps giving.

“One day in 2017, I was watching “America’s Got Talent” and I said to myself, ‘Gee, I could do that.’ So, I told my daughter that I would need a ride to St. John’s University. She said, ‘you know, when you told me you were going to start doing comedy, I figured you were going you start off with retirement homes or something like that.’ I tried out and they all laughed, but they said I needed to polish up my material because I was a little bit too risqué for them.

I do what I do because if I can take people’s minds off their troubles and problems, even for a little while, it’s all worth it.

“I’ve always just been a funny guy. I always told jokes. At my very first show in Bohemia, I got a standing ovation. Two of my performances in Patchogue even sold out. Not saying it was because of me, but I seem to be getting some sort of following. People say they want to see me. The same year I started doing stand-up, Paul Anthony, who runs the AARP over 50 shows, had me try out for the AARP Funniest Comedian Contest. I was one of the winners and after that, he started putting me on a lot of his shows at theaters.

“I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been doing about two shows a week. I’ve done shows from Miami up to headlining at Mohegan Sun with veterans’ comedy assault, which is made up of all veterans.

“Before the pandemic, I had done shows for patients of the VA hospital and the homeless. I’ve performed at fundraisers for the VFW and the American Legion and was asked to perform at the Tunnel to Towers concert series.

“It has really been fun. And you know at my age, there aren’t too many of us. I only have one friend left from the old days. Now I’ve got all these new friends because I started doing comedy. I do what I do because if I can take people’s minds off their troubles and problems, even for a little while, it’s all worth it.”

Interviewed by Dan Offner

‘Danielle was a healthy, spunky, active 7-year-old. She went from doing cartwheels to having to relearn how to walk.’

Northport

“Danielle was a healthy, spunky, active 7-year-old. She went to camp one morning in the summer of 2019, and I got the dreaded call that she was really sick. She had a headache, something was wrong with her leg, and they had already called 911. When EMS arrived, she was unconscious.

“When my husband and I met her at the hospital, she was not responsive, but the doctors were working on her. They discovered bleeding in her brain. They brought her to Cohen Children’s Medical Center and confirmed that it was an AVM — a tangle of blood vessels. There’s pressure that builds up behind it, and the blood vessels burst. She went to emergency surgery and was in the ICU for two weeks.

“When she woke, she couldn’t move her right side. She went from doing cartwheels to having to relearn how to walk. We were just happy to hear her talk! They did another brain surgery and she was off to rehab.

“In addition to walking, she had to relearn to use her right arm, feed herself, write … normal things that you take for granted. She kept telling us she was determined to be ‘regular Danielle again.’

Her experience has helped me be a better pediatrician.

“In 2020, a checkup showed the AVM had grown back. She had another brain surgery last fall. It was a big setback, but she was determined to get back to herself. Now she’s back on the dance team doing cartwheels! It’s amazing that she’s had three brain surgeries.

“In September, she had a checkup and it was clear! She wants to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. Despite my being a pediatrician and my husband a cardiologist, I learned that doctors push for your kids, but no one can do as much as parents.

“When she went back to second grade, the doctor said she had no restrictions on the playground; however, the school said there it wasn’t safe, so she was kept inside for recess away from her friends. It was an emotional roller-coaster for her.

“In third grade, her class wrote persuasive essays. She wrote to the principal asking to fundraise for equipment for the playground for kids with disabilities. We’re very proud of her. Her experience has helped me be a better pediatrician. Our whole family has grown. It showed us something we didn’t know we had in ourselves — that we can be strong as a family.”

Interviewed by Iris Wiener

‘My father always pushed me to be productive and independent. He is just that type of person.’

Lindenhurst

“I was diagnosed with autism at the age of 4. My mom was working as a nurse at Brunswick Hospital, and my dad was about 20 years into the moving business, when my mom found out there was something wrong with me. I wasn’t acting the way normal babies do when they’re born.

“During that time, she had me go to early intervention at the Developmental Disabilities Institute in Greenlawn. I started speaking at age 4. There was a teacher there who was pretty much a godsend. Back then, I was doing echolalia and things like that.

“I ended up going to public school for almost 10 years. It was like a nightmare. Fifth grade was the worst. I was a ticking time bomb when it came to anger issues, and it just got so out of whack that the doctors told my parents there would be no way I would progress forward. Then, one day, it was like something just clicked. I wanted to be more mature, and I slowly started to come out of my cocoon.

I don’t like being labeled by my disability.

“In a year and a half, I finally matured to a point where I was able to function and learn, but there were still a lot of things I needed to catch up on.

“I was a big fan of ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ growing up. When I was about 15, my dad and I would travel to the railroad museum out east to watch the trains. We became volunteers in 2007, and as years went by, I joined a few organizations keeping up with the hobby of trains and railroad preservation.

“My father always pushed me to be productive and independent. He is just that type of person. So, I decided to just do it. I got my high school diploma in September 2017. I don’t like being labeled by my disability. You can’t actually see that I am autistic. Even though I am, it doesn’t mean that I am going to slow people down.

“The pandemic screwed up a lot of my plans. I just moved out of my mom’s house when the COVID outbreak started. Because of it, I didn’t know what I was going to do for work or how I was going to support myself.

“I started working for Amazon in April. It was tough at first. I went through the training and started to follow a couple of guys who really gave me inspiration. They said, ‘It’s easy once you get used to it,’ and that I should keep going. So I did, and I got better at it.”

‘Jamaica will always be my home, but now Long Island really feels like home.’

Roosevelt

“I’m originally from Port Antonio, a small town in Jamaica. At age 6, I started getting sick all the time. The doctors gave me a penicillin shot but didn’t test to see if I was allergic. It turned out I was. I ended up in the hospital and a wheelchair.

“I found myself constantly getting sick. No one knew why. Eventually I was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, and the virus went untreated for so long it damaged two heart valves.

“I had family in the U.S. who work in health care and spoke to management at North Shore University Hospital about a cardiac program with St. Jude’s. They managed to get me there to have the surgery.

“I was in the operating room the next day, got out of the hospital about a week after and ended up staying with family in Roosevelt during the healing process. I missed home, but I also found things I loved for the first time.

I saw snow for the first time, thinking it was rain, then said out loud, ‘What is that?’

“I really liked going to the mall. I tried a Tootsie Roll there, which I had never had before. It was amazing! They didn’t have that in Jamaica at the time. I remember going shopping, and I got this cool sweater, but couldn’t stop wondering, ‘What am I going to do with this when I get back to Jamaica?’

“I saw snow for the first time, thinking it was rain, then said out loud, ‘What is that?’ About 10 years after going home, I was contacted by the U.S. embassy, who said my papers went through to move back. It turns out my dad, who is a U.S. citizen, had filed papers for me when I was 17, and it took many years to go through. It was good timing. I was in my 20s, and at that point, I didn’t feel like Jamaica was working out.

“I moved back to Roosevelt again in 2016. I felt like it was a meant-to-be thing. I had options to live in NYC or Florida, but I wanted to come back here. I’ll be taking the citizenship test soon.

“I work across the street from the mall, which I still love. Whenever I get stressed, I think, ‘Let me just take a walk there.’ It reminds me of the first time I was here.

“When I first came here as a kid, I remember thinking, ‘I just want to go back home,’ but now when I say I want to go home, I just want to go to my bed here on Long Island.

“Jamaica will always be my home, but now Long Island really feels like home.”

Interviewed by Ian J. Stark

‘We knew a lot of people make donations to charities at Christmas houses, so we decided to have Frosty help get donations for Make-A-Wish.’

Plainview

“My family has lived at 33 Jamaica Ave. in Plainview for 30 years. We have been decorating our house for Christmas for a long time, and we keep adding more to it. In 2014, Newsday posted a story online about a person in Muttontown who had a big Frosty the Snowman, and he was looking for a home for it because he was downsizing. We sent him an email from ‘the characters on our front lawn’ saying they’d love to have Frosty join them! The search for Frosty’s new home was narrowed to 60 people. That June, we went by his house in our Christmas outfits, took pictures in front of Frosty, and sent his owner the pictures. He chose us over the Town of Oyster Bay and Bayville Scream Park, who also wanted Frosty! The only condition he gave it to us under was that we don’t sell Frosty. Frosty was special to his family, and he liked that he was going to another family that would take care of him.

That was the only time I thought I might not make it, like this disease was going to take my whole family away.

“When we got Frosty, he was in bad shape. We had to redo the fiberglass and repair the outside. We found out that Frosty was in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from 1960 to 1972. He was auctioned off at Christie’s, which is how he came to Muttontown. We knew a lot of people make donations to charities at Christmas houses, so we decided to have Frosty help get donations for Make-A-Wish. We knew this is one thing we can do for kids facing problems. We didn’t realize it, but when you donate enough to Make-A-Wish, you get letters from children who have been granted wishes. We have a lot of fun with Frosty and the people who come to see him, but when you get the letters, you realize you really did something special. One little girl went to Disney, and she sent us pictures from her first plane ride. Another kid got to be a policeman for a day. We got a letter and picture from him. It touches your heart and you know you’re doing good.

“Frosty comes out at our house on Thanksgiving. Getting him up and running with all of our decorations takes three eight-hour days. This year, my son was Santa Claus and gave out candy canes. Little kids love seeing Frosty because he looks even bigger in their eyes. We get teenage girls that come and take selfies at all kinds of hours. It’s so cute to watch.”