Baby cousin with cancer inspires girls to sew hospital gowns for sick kids across U.S. and Africa

FREEHOLD, N.J. (AP) — Fighting brain cancer, little Giada Demma was lying in her pediatric hospital bed, her tiny body virtually swimming in a drab green hospital gown.

Her cousin Giuliana Demma remembers looking at the 1-year-old and thinking how sad the scene was: a small child awash in an ugly gown several sizes too big for her.

“I thought to myself,' ‘Why does she have to wear this? Why can't she wear something nicer?'” Giuliana said.

Inspired by that moment, Giuliana Demma, 13, and her 11-year-old sister Audrina have sewn and donated more than 1,800 brightly colored, playfully patterned gowns to hospitalized children in 36 states. They've even sent them to Uganda, with three other African nations set to get them in the fall.

“I wanted to do something to help kids like (Giada) and give them hospital gowns that have nice patterns, that are colorful, that they can feel comfortable in while they’re going through a rough time,” Giuliana said.

Their family hired a seamstress to make a custom Disney princess gown for little Giada, who was hospitalized in 2017 and is doing well now. But as Giuliana grew over the next four or five years, she developed an interest in sewing, and remembered how lost her little cousin looked in a drab, ill-fitting gown years earlier.

Once Giuliana learned to sew, her cousin was no longer hospitalized. But she started making cheerful gowns for other sick kids. Her first creations were gowns with flamingos and Paris-themed patterns for a child with cancer that her aunt knew.

No child is ever charged for one of her gowns, which are paid for by donations of money and material. The Starbucks Foundation gave the project a $3,000 grant this year. A hospital linen company, ImageFIRST in Clifton, New Jersey, cleans all the garments for free before they are sent to hospitals, and a women's group at a nearby housing development and a church youth group help out with about 40 volunteers cutting fabric for the girls.

Giuliana gets help from her sister, who also loves sewing. Audrina will pitch in when Giuliana has homework to do, heading to the basement of their home in Freehold, New Jersey, not far from the Jersey Shore, that has been taken over by the sewing operation.

Audrina's specialty is sewing small pillows for young patients. They are sent with boxes of markers so that the recipients can color them as they like while they're in the hospital.

Audrina made 100 pillows as part of an effort to earn her Girl Scout Bronze award, packaged them and sent them off to hospitals. She makes seasonally themed pillows for St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day and other special times; last winter she made 100 snowman pillows.

They are often part of packages the girls create that include rubber duckies and other toys, and a local pediatric cancer charity, LIV Like a Unicorn, includes them in boxes they send to children battling cancer. The Minnesota charity Children’s Surgery International took 60 of the gowns to hospitals in Uganda in February with more headed to Gambia, Liberia and Ethiopia in the fall.

Some of the recipients write back to thank the girls for the gowns and pillows.

“I like seeing the smiles on the kids' faces, even though they're going through such a hard time,” said Audrina, who wants to be a veterinarian.

The girls have recently begun sewing zippers into brightly colored T-shirts to accommodate infusion ports for chemotherapy or other drugs that could allow young patients not to have to wear a gown at all while hospitalized.

Samantha DiSimone's son Vito was hospitalized in January in New York for a heart valve ailment at 9 months old. Hospital staff brought in a sealed package with a gown Giuliana made from material with a pattern from the “Cars” movie.

He broke out in a big smile when they unpackaged the garment.

“I was so emotional,” Samantha DiSimone said. “You're in a hospital praying that your child will make it through the surgery, and to see him in the gown with a big smile on his face is an amazing thing.”

Soft-spoken yet entirely at ease recounting her efforts, Giuliana has the poise and maturity of someone beyond her years, though she just graduated from middle school. She wants to be a cancer surgeon, and said she loves hearing from recipients of the gowns.

“I'm really happy I can help make a difference for them during this tough time,” she said. “I want them to feel confident and know that they're an inspiration, they're loved and they're strong and they're brave. They can wear these gowns and have something to cheer them up.”

Melissa Demma, Giada's mother, said the drive by her child's young cousins to make and give away gowns “blows me away and touches me each and every day."

“They're young girls and this is what they choose to do, spending their time helping others,” she said. “If everyone could be like this, our world would be a better place. It makes me feel better for the future and what this world could be.”

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Nurse Ellen Reynolds of Children’s Surgery International gives a lollipop to patient Ategeka, whose last name they are keeping confidential to protect his privacy, in a bed at Holy Innocents Children's Hospital in Mbarara, Uganda on Feb. 2, 2024. Ategeka is wearing a Harry Potter-themed gown made by Giuliana Demma, a New Jersey girl who, with her sister Audrina, have sewn and donated 1,800 brightly colored, kid-themed hospital gowns to sick children across the U.S. and Africa. (Amy Smith/Children's Surgery International via AP)

Giada Demma, 1-year-old, sits in a pediatric hospital bed at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York on Oct. 17, 2017, the last day she was scheduled to undergo chemotherapy for cancer. Her family had a seamstress make the Disney hospital gown Giada is wearing. But seeing the child wearing a drab hospital issued-gown on a different date helped inspired Giada’s cousin Guiliana Demma to learn to sew and make brightly colored, kid-themed hospital gowns for hospitalized children. Since 2021, Giuliana Demma and her sister Audrina have made and donated 1,800 hospital gowns and several hundred kid-sixed pillows to children in hospitals in 36 states and Uganda. (Melissa Demma via AP)

Giada Demma, 1-year-old, sits in a pediatric hospital bed at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York in August 2017. Seeing the child wearing a drab hospital issued-gown on a different date helped inspired Giada’s cousin Guiliana Demma to learn to sew and make brightly colored, kid-themed hospital gowns for hospitalized children. Since 2021, Giuliana Demma and her sister Audrina have made and donated 1,800 hospital gowns and several hundred kid-sixed pillows to children in hospitals in 36 states and Uganda. (Melissa Demma via AP)

Audrina Demma sews a pediatric hospital gown in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Giuliana and Audrina Demma have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Audrina Demma holds a pillow she sewed in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Audrina and her sister Giuliana have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma holds a pediatric hospital gown she had just finished sewing in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. She and her sister Audrina have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma, left, and her sister Audrina, right, sew pediatric hospital gowns in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. The sisters have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma, left, and her sister Audrina sew pediatric hospital gowns in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. The sisters have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma, left, and her sister Audrina, right, sew pediatric hospital gowns in the basement of their Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. The sisters have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma irons a pediatric hospital gown she had just sewn the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Giuliana and her sister Audrina have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma sews a pediatric hospital gown in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Giuliana and her sister Audrina have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma holds a pediatric hospital gown she had just finished sewing in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Giuliana and her sister Audrina have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Audrina Demma sews a pediatric hospital gown in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. She and her sister Giuliana have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Audrina Demma sews a pediatric hospital gown in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Audrina and her sister Giuliana have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

1-year-old Vito DiSimone holds a card that came with the special hospital gown he was given during a stay at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York on Jan. 11, 2024. The gown was made by two New Jersey sisters, Giuliana and Audrina Demma, who have sewn and donated 1,800 brightly-colored and kid-themed hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states and Uganda since 2021. (Samantha DiSimone)

Giuliana Demma holds a pediatric hospital gown she had sewn in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. Giuliana and her sister Audrina have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Giuliana Demma, left, and her sister Audrina, right, sew pediatric hospital gowns in the basement of her Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. The sisters have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

Audrina Demma, left, and her sister Giuliana hug in the basement at the sewing station of their Freehold, N.J., home on June 19, 2024. The sisters have sewn and donated 1,800 hospital gowns to sick children in 36 states plus Africa. Giuliana was inspired by seeing her baby cousin wearing an ugly, ill-fitting gown while hospitalized with brain cancer in 2017. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Orlando Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who became a Hall of Famer among the early Puerto Ricans to star in the major leagues, has died. He was 86.

The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night, and a moment of silence was held as his photo showed on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Our beloved Orlando passed away peacefully at home this evening, listening to his favorite music and surrounded by his loved ones,” his wife, Nydia, said in a statement released through the team. “We take comfort that he is at peace.”

It’s been a heartbreaking month for the Giants given Cepeda’s death followed that of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who died 10 days earlier on June 18 at age 93.

“Man, what another gut punch,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin, who grew up in the Bay Area cheering for the team. “Another just incredible personality and just beloved here. Statue out front. The numbers he put up, there are a lot of legends here and he’s certainly right in the middle of that. To have it so close in proximity to Willie, it’s kind of staggering.”

Cepeda was a regular at Giants home games through the 2017 season until he dealt with some health challenges. He was hospitalized in the Bay Area in February 2018 following a cardiac event.

One of the first Puerto Rican stars in the majors but limited by knee issues, he became Boston’s first designated hitter and credits his time as a DH for getting him enshrined into the Hall of Fame in 1999 as selected by the Veteran’s Committee.

“Orlando Cepeda’s unabashed love for the game of baseball sparkled during his extraordinary playing career, and later as one of the game’s enduring ambassadors,” Hall of Fame Chairman Jane Forbes Clark said. “We will miss his wonderful smile at Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown, where his spirit will shine forever, and we extend our deepest sympathies to the Cepeda family.”

When the Red Sox called Cepeda in December 1972 to inquire whether he’d like to be their first designated hitter, the unemployed player accepted on the spot.

“Boston called and asked me if I was interested in being the DH, and I said yes,” Cepeda recalled in a 2013 interview with The Associated Press in the 40th year of the DH. “The DH got me to the Hall of Fame. The rule got me to the Hall of Fame.”

He didn’t know what it would mean for his career, acknowledging, “I didn’t know anything about the DH.” The experiment worked out beautifully for Cepeda, who played in 142 games that season — the second-to-last in a decorated 17-year major league career. The A’s had released Cepeda only months after acquiring him from Atlanta on June 29, 1972.

Cepeda was celebrated at Fenway Park on May 8, 2013, for a ceremony celebrating his role as designated hitter. The Red Sox had invited him for their first home series of the season but his former Giants franchise was honoring the reigning World Series champions at the same time.

“It means a lot,” Cepeda said then. “Amazing. When you think everything’s finished, it’s only the beginning.”

He said then-A’s owner Charlie Finley sent him a telegram to call him within a 24-hour period or he’d be released. Cepeda didn’t meet the deadline and was let go in December 1972. He played in only three games for Oakland after the A’s acquired him for pitcher Denny McLain. Cepeda was placed on the disabled list with a left knee injury. He had 10 knee operations in all, sidelining him four different years.

Cepeda had been a first baseman and outfielder before joining the first class of baseball’s designated hitters under the new American League rule.

“They were talking about only doing it for three years,” he said. “And people still don’t like the idea of the DH. They said it wouldn’t last.”

The addition of the DH opened new opportunities for players such as Cepeda and others from his era who could still produce at the plate late in their careers but no longer played the field with the spot-on defense of their primes.

Cepeda was thrilled to have another chance.

He hit .289 with 20 home runs and 86 RBIs in 1973, starting off strongly with a .333 average and five homers in April. He drove in 23 runs in August on the way to DH of the Year honors. On Aug. 8 at Kansas City, Cepeda hit four doubles.

“That was one of the best years,” Cepeda recalled, “because I was playing on one leg and I hit .289. And I hit four doubles in one game. Both my knees were hurting, and I was designated hitter of the year.”

Cepeda topped Baltimore’s Tommy Davis (.306, seven homers, 89 RBIs) and Minnesota’s Tony Oliva (.291, 16 HRs, 92 RBIs) for top DH honors.

“It wasn’t easy for me to win the award,” Cepeda said. “They had some great years.”

Cepeda knew little English when he arrived in the minor leagues in the mid-1950s, putting him among the first wave of Spanish-speaking players thrown into a different culture to play professional baseball, build new lives and send money back home.

It was an opportunity to succeed in a sport he loved, as long as daunting challenges off the field could be overcome.

Early on, Cepeda was told by a manager to go home to Puerto Rico and learn English before coming back to his career in the U.S.

“Coming here my first year, everything was a novelty to me, a surprise,” Cepeda recalled in a 2014 interview with the AP. “When I came to Virginia, I was there for one month and my father died. My dad said, ‘I want to see my son play pro ball,’ and he died the day before I played my first game in Virginia.

“From there I went to Puerto Rico and when I came back here, I had to come back because we didn’t have no money and my mother said, ‘You’ve got to go back and send me money, we don’t have money to eat,’” he said.

Cepeda had continued to be encouraged watching so many young players from Latin America arriving in the United States with better English skills, thanks in large part to all 30 major league organizations putting more emphasis into such training through academies in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela.

There also are English classes offered to young players during spring training and into extended spring, plus through the various levels of the minor leagues.

“Orlando overcame challenges throughout his life to build a Hall of Fame career," MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “This beloved figure from Puerto Rico was one of the many players of his era who helped turn baseball into a multicultural game.”

He had his troubles, too.

Cepeda was arrested in May 2007 after being pulled him over for speeding when officers discovered drugs in the car.

The California Highway Patrol officer arrested Cepeda after finding a “usable” amount of a white-powder substance that likely was methamphetamine or cocaine, while marijuana and a syringe were also discovered.

After his playing career ended, Cepeda was convicted in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of smuggling marijuana and sentenced to five years in prison.

That conviction was probably one reason he was not elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Cepeda eventually was elected by the Veterans Committee in 1999.

Cepeda played first base during his 17 seasons in the majors, beginning with the Giants. He also spent time with St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City. In the spring of 1969, Cepeda was traded by the Cardinals to the Braves for Joe Torre.

A seven-time All-Star who played in three World Series, Cepeda was the 1958 NL Rookie of the Year with San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 with St. Louis, a city sad to see him go in that trade that brought Torre to town. In 1961, Cepeda led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs. Cepeda was a .297 career hitter with 379 home runs.

It wasn’t until after that 1973 season as DH that Cepeda could look back and appreciate all he had accomplished that year — along with the big part he played in history and change in the sport.

“I just did it,” he said of learning the DH. “Every day, I say to myself, how lucky I am to be born with the skills to play ball.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

St. Louis Cardinals' Orlando Cepeda scores in the eighth inning of a baseball game as New York Mets catcher J.C. Martin, right, and umpire Tim McCarver, left, watch at Shea Stadium in New York in 1968. Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who became a Hall of Famer among the early Puerto Ricans to star in the major leagues, has died. He was 86. The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night, June 28, 2024, and a moment of silence was held on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - Willie Mays, left, is joined by former San Francisco Giants' Orlando Cepeda, right, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal, front, before Game 3 of the World Series between the Giants and the Anaheim Angels in San Francisco,Oct. 22, 2002. Mays, the electrifying “Say Hey Kid” whose singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players, has died. He was 93. Mays' family and the San Francisco Giants jointly announced Tuesday night, June 18, 2024, he had “passed away peacefully” Tuesday afternoon surrounded by loved ones. (AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, File)

FILE - St. Louis Cardinals' Orlando Cepeda, left, and Boston Red Sox's Carl Yastrzemski pose for a photo in March 1968 in St. Petersburg, Fla. Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who became a Hall of Famer among the early Puerto Ricans to star in the major leagues, has died. He was 86. The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night, June 28, 2024, and a moment of silence was held on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. (AP Photo/Harry Hall, File)

Players stand on the field as the San Francisco Giants announce the death of former baseball player Orlando Cepeda, before the sixth inning of the team's baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, June 28, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

FILE - Atlanta Braves' Orlando Cepeda poses for a photo in 1970, location not known. Cepeda, the slugging first baseman nicknamed “Baby Bull” who became a Hall of Famer among the early Puerto Ricans to star in the major leagues, has died. He was 86. The San Francisco Giants and his family announced the death Friday night, June 28, 2024, and a moment of silence was held on the scoreboard at Oracle Park midway through a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. (AP Photo, File)