Sabrina & Camillo - Chefs
One of my fondest memories with both Sabrina and Camillo was our time spent cooking. For both children cooking was one of their favorite activities. Making homemade pizza was a special treat for Sabrina and Camillo. I distinctly recall one afternoon in the fall of 2002, shortly after Camillo’s first bone marrow transplant, when Sabrina and Camillo decided that the family would be having a pepperoni and cheese pizza for supper. Sabrina and Camillo loved playing with the pizza dough. They had more on their hands and faces then on the pizza tray! Sabrina would instruct Camillo to put the sauce on the dough while she would place the pepperoni slices on the pizza. For every pepperoni she placed on the pizza, she would eat two. These are very special memories that I will never forget.
– Mommy
Dr. Sabrina
I am very fortunate to have spent a great deal of time with Sabrina. I have so many wonderful memories to treasure. There's a particular one that I would like to share with all of you. As you all know Sabrina was a very loving, caring child and she expressed these qualities everyday. Well, one day at my house Sabrina and Marina were playing together. Sabrina came to ask if I had any of my "nursing stuff like a stethoscope". I asked her why she needed it and she replied that they were playing doctor and there was a sick child that needed her attention. So I gave Sabrina my stethoscope, some syringes, some gauzes, some tape, my glucometer, some gloves and off she went with a big smile to Marina's room. A while later, as I was passing through the hallway, I observed them playing. There was Sabrina or I should say Dr. D'Alesio at work caring for this doll that at this time, was bandaged up all over. Sabrina was saying, "don't worry, Marina and I are taking very good care of you". She did indeed, for a while later she called me and said look Ana this doll was in a car accident and Marina and I made her all better. Well the doll was not the only one who got treated that day by Dr D'Alesio because her next patient was Jimmy who needed his appendix to be removed. What a wonderful day we had.
I miss you Sabrina.
– Ana
Magic Finger
Sabrina and Camillo captured our hearts from the very moment we met and taught us so much in just a short period of time. I can still see Sabrina's face at the front window waiting for us to arrive at their house, so happy and full of life, and waiting to check out my shoes. Sabrina would always announce our arrival with a big "It's JOE ASTORINO", she would never say just JOE. For some reason just saying Joe seemed incomplete coming from Sabrina, it had to be JOE ASTORINO (By the way Joe really loved the special way that she pronounced his name.)
As for Camillo, he would always look at me from the corner of his big blue eyes, which would melt my heart. On our first Magog vacation I had to try to get to know him a little better, so I came up with the idea that I had a "magic finger" which would "Buzz" every time he would touch it with his little finger. That caught his attention! He went to touch my other fingers and I told him it was just my index finger that had the magic touch. He also went to see Joe to see if he had a magic finger and under my breath I told Joe not to say anything. Hence, Camillo came to see my "magic finger" to see if it still “buzzed” and that’s how we became friends.
It seemed that after that vacation whenever we saw each other we would point our fingers together knowing that my “magic finger” would perform. As time went on whenever we went to visit them and when it came to leave, Sabrina and Camillo would go to the window to say good-bye, and Camillo would place his little finger on the windowpane and I knew he was looking for my “magic finger”. There was nothing special about my finger, but Sabrina and Camillo were truly magical.
– Cristina and Joe Astorino