TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Group gathers to assist friend in need

Klint Lowry/SUNCOAST

Friends are holding a fundraiser for Charice Daly, who is battling cancer and dealing with the recent suicide of her husband.

ADVERTISEMENT

By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: October 20, 2009

Updated:

Things are tough these days, but for Charice Daly, the general miseries of 2009 are nothing compared to her personal circumstances. Now, some friends are putting together a fundraiser to help her through her personal nightmare.

On Saturday, Oct. 24, Jilly's Lounge, 5313 Main St., will hold a party on Daly's behalf. Her friend Michelle Collins organized the event.

"Stress kills you by itself," Collins said. She hopes providing a bit of financial relief for Daly as she continues to struggle with her circumstances will help with the tremendous psychological burden she has been under.

Daly, 44, has been battling breast cancer for about three years. In May 2008, she underwent a single mastectomy. Between that and chemotherapy, it looked as if she were gaining the upper hand on her illness.

In August, she learned the cancer had made a comeback.

A few days later, on Aug. 26, she came home to find her dog was acting strangely, barking at the closed bedroom door.

Thinking her husband, Jay Levy, was taking a nap, she tried to open the door but found a dresser was blocking it. She got it open a crack and could see Jay on the other side. He was prone to seizures, and her first thought was that he was in distress.

"Suddenly, I was Wonder Woman," Daly said. She forced the door open, and when she did Jay fell to the floor. It wasn't a seizure. Levy had hanged himself. She administered CPR for the 25 minutes it took paramedics to arrive.

"For some reason, I thought they were going to save him," she said, right up until the moment one of the paramedics told her, "Ma'am, he's gone."

Daly has three teenage sons living at home. She has been unable to work fulltime since shortly before she was diagnosed with cancer, when she couldn't understand why she was getting so tired.

Now that she's back on regular radiation treatments, her system is as strained as ever - working is out of the question. With Levy gone, just paying the bills is quickly turning into an insurmountable burden.

As if that weren't enough, the Port Richey home she is renting is in foreclosure. Daly said notices have been arriving. Even if she could make the rent, the home could be pulled out from under them by the foreclosure.

That doesn't really matter, Daly said. Since no one can bear to enter the bedroom in which Levy died, they have to move.

The question is how?

Collins and Daly have been friends for several years. They used to work together as hairdressers. Daly has also worked as a bartender at a couple different places in downtown New Port Richey.

She knows a lot of people around town, which was part of how Collins got the idea for the party at Jilly's. She figured it would be a reminder of better times.

The fundraising party will run from 9:30 p.m. until 1 a.m. There's no cover charge to attend the party.

Instead, cover band Lost N Found is contributing to the cause by volunteering to be a "live jukebox." Cards will be placed on a table with the names of songs. For a donation, guests can choose which songs they want to hear.

The band will also participate in something Collins called "band-aoke," whereby guests can pay to get on stage and be a lead vocalist while the band plays.

Collins, who is known in the local art community, is also donating a couple pieces of her artwork and convinced a few artist friends to the same. The art will be raffled off during the party.

Klint Lowry can be reached at 727-815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT