In the News
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
(PITTSBURGH) Mr. DeAngelis was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma in early 2018. He died in January 2020, but not before getting to attend Dino’s second birthday party in November 2019 at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. It was was thrown by the nonprofit One Day to Remember, which plans outings for the children of parents with incurable diseases and gave Mr. DeAngelis one last perfect day with his family.
Mr. DeAngelis was employed by Development Dimensions International, a Pittsburgh-based organization that helps businesses “hire, promote and develop exceptional leaders,” according to its website. His former colleagues wanted to ensure he would never be forgotten. So, they spent the last year raising $14,000 for One Day to Remember in Mr. DeAngelis’ name. They presented the check to Ms. DeAngelis and One Day to Remember leadership late last month.
Sips with Survivors PODCAST
“Although she hasn’t had a cancer diagnosis herself, Rachel saw the impact it was having on families firsthand, as an oncology nurse. In 2016 she launched One Day to Remember—giving families an experience locally together that they will always remember! Tune in to learn more & how you can nominate a family.”
KD Sunday Spotlight
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — “We went to feed the reindeer,” said Alyssa Borland. “I think the boys ate as many carrots as they fed the reindeer.”
It was a special day at Keystone Safari for the Borlands because they don’t get these family days often.
Michael Borland is battling stage 4 small bowel cancer.
“I was diagnosed February 2019,” said Michael. “[I] had some surgery and couple rounds of chemo. I was pretty much told I was cancer free at the time. Later, CT scans showed it was back.”
Michael receives chemotherapy every other week and said some weeks are better than others.
“It’s crazy at times, especially with the boys,” said Michael. “They’re 3 and 4 and a half. It’s harder on the days where I’m more tired. And then you get the questions, ‘Where you going today daddy?’ Just going to get some medicine to help daddy’s tummy feel better.’”
All while his wife Alyssa saves lives as the emergency department medical director at Butler Memorial Hospital.
“My schedule’s all over the place. I work days, I work nights, I work weekends,” said Alyssa. “It does get crazy. We fortunately have some very good support.”
Support from family and friends, but also the non-profit organization One Day to Remember.
“We provide a day out, a cost-free day out for families who have a parent with a life-limiting illness, so they get to enjoy quality family time,” said Executive Director Rachel Antin.
Antin was an oncology nurse when she met sick parents who longed for a day with their families without worrying about cancer and hospital bills. She then started the organization in 2016.
TRIB LIVE
As an oncology nurse at Hillman Cancer Center in Pittsburgh, Rachel Antin saw the pain.
A sick parent would give everything he or she had to get well enough to be with their children. Antin watched as families struggled to find time together, away from the chemotherapy and blood tests and hospital.
“Interacting with these families every day, I could see they were struggling to find special moments of connection in their darkest hour,” Antin said. “I could see they needed a respite.”
Antin was inspired to give them just that — a few days, sometimes a few hours, to relax and be a normal family again.
She created One Day to Remember, an organization that provides a day of hope for ill parents and their children. There are nearly 3 million children in the U.S. who have a parent with a life-limiting illness, she said.
“Losing a parent at a young age alters the course of a child’s life,” said Antin of Squirrel Hill, herself a mother of two. “A piece of their future will be missing. It is an honor and a privilege to help these families. We want to show them a time where they can forget about their medical situation and have fun together.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Rachel Antin and Kate Crawford have a lot in common. They’re both mothers of young children. Both run nonprofits dedicated to helping others. And neither of them are capable of concealing their emotions when discussing what Ms. Antin did for Ms. Crawford on May 17.
Ms. Antin, 34, of Squirrel Hill, is the founder of the nonprofit One Day to Remember, which organizes outings for folks with life-limiting diseases and young children. Ms. Crawford, 37, of Rostraver and founder of the nonprofit Project Sweet Peas, is the mother of three pre-teens and has been living with metastatic breast cancer since 2013.
Through One Day to Remember, Ms. Antin treated Ms. Crawford; her husband, Steven; and her kids — son S.J., 11, and twins Grace and Lily, both 12 — to a Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium excursion capped off with a dinner at Monterey Bay Fish Grotto on Mount Washington….
People.com
“A mother of four is giving back to a nonprofit organization after they provided an invaluable day with her family during the final days of her husband's life.
Just one week before Jason Geist passed away at age 37 from stage IV pancreatic cancer, One Day to Remember, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit that helps kids make memories with a terminally ill parent, organized a special outing for him and his family.…”
Pittsburgh Magazine
“For a young family, blocking off a full day for quality time can be a challenge. Between work, school, extra obligations for parents and kids alike, household tasks and more, sneaking in extended quality time can be tricky.
For parents facing a life-threatening illness, it can be near impossible.
Between stretched resources, medical needs and the limitations serious illness places on adults, the idea of a day spent making carefree memories couldn’t be farther from reality. The goal of nonprofit organization One Day to Remember is to offer families experiences that will, indeed, remain fixed in memory….”
WPXI
FINNEGAN: For a family in Wexford, it was a day they’ll never forget. And it was all made possible thanks to a local nurse with a special idea….
“Julie Miller was diagnosed with metastatic ovarian cancer last year, but the most severe pain she feels comes from neither the chemotherapy and its side effects, nor the neuropathy in her feet.
Rather, what has been most difficult for Miller to bear is watching the light go out of the eyes of her usually animated 12-year-old daughter, Lucie, her only child.
But for one day last summer, that light returned…”
WGGB
“An Easthampton veteran has been given six months to live after his cancer spread to his lymph nodes and lungs.
However, regardless of his terminal illness, he is choosing to live every day to the fullest and a local charity is trying to help by giving him one day to remember….”
Root Sports
Root Sports covered our Bowl with the Pirates event in May 2017.
Rachel throws out the first pitch!
The Pittsburgh Pirates and FedEx invited our founder and executive director to throw out the first pitch at PNC Park on September 19, 2017. One Day to Remember recipients joined her on the mound. Let’s go Bucs!
Harrison News-Herald
“Even for one day it’s possible the world can seem trouble-less, pain free and without a care in the world. One would hope it would have that effect for someone like Trisha Ten, for she has terminal cancer. Her illness is called Leiomyosarcoma and there is no cure….”