Inspirational Stories

This is the story of Rino La Paglia, a son, brother, boyfriend, uncle, cousin and friend to many who knew him.

Rino was first diagnosed with T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in February 2008. He was 33 years old at the time, and was in remission by 2010. Everything was great, Rino went back to being a electrician, softball player and living life to his fullest. Then, in October 2015 Rino found out, his cancer came back, he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic lymphoma (ALL).

We all thought Rino beat it once, he can most certainly beat this again. This time around he needed a much more aggressive approach to fighting this terrible disease.

He underwent extensive chemotherapy treatment and finally selected to undergo a bone marrow transplant as his final attempt. In April of 2016, he had a half-stem cell/cord blood transplant at the University of Chicago hospital. Unfortunately, Rino's fight was lost on June 28, 2016.

Even though Rino's journey has ended, his life will carryon through each and everyone one of us. Together we will continue to tell Rino's story about how hard he fought, how much he loved his family and friends, and how much he appreciated each and every day of his life.