‘Live Positive' Team Prepares for Sixth Closer to Free Ride

Maureen Raucci supervises the care for patients on the 12th floor of Yale-New Haven’s Smilow Cancer Hospital.

“We take people in at the most vulnerable time of their lives,” she said, “and with that we create bonds that are everlasting with patients and their families.”

Raucci is in her sixth year as a Closer to Free team captain. Closer to Free is a cycling fundraiser for Smilow.

“To be able to ride in front of Smilow and see your patients out there with signs,” Raucci said, “or have members of your teams who used to be your patients is just phenomenal.”

More than 20 members of Team Live Positive this year are former patients, Raucci said. Many others are their family members and friends.

“Riding through New haven, that’s the coolest part to me,” Live Positive team member Daniel Hanusch said.

Doctors diagnosed Hanusch with a cancerous brain tumor when he was a 21-year-old college student at Quinnipiac University.

Now, more than five years later after his final treatment at YNHH, Hanusch proudly wears a survivor jersey for Closer to Free.

“The big thing is just not to underestimate the power of positive thinking,” Hanusch said. “On the physical fight, you’re really in the hands of your doctors, but your mental health can go a long way with just keeping your wits about you and keep on fighting, don’t give up.”

Registered nurse Erica Nicolosi says she is riding for her family, friends and mostly her patients on the 12th floor of Smilow.

“I want to see every one of my patients out there and being able to ride for miles on a bike after being in this hospital,” Nicolosi said. “That is my goal to get people back into their normal lives.”

For patients still fighting cancer, Live Positive team members will wear their hospital wristbands with personalized messages.

“If they can’t be with us on ride day,” Raucci said, “they’re with us in spirit.”

One hundred percent of the Closer to Free proceeds go toward patient care and the search for a cure. NBC Connecticut is a proud sponsor of this year’s event on Saturday September 10.

You still have time to sign up and join a team like Live Positive.

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