Golfing for Gabi nets $80,000

Working to find better treatments for those with brain cancer is more than just continuing Gabi’s legacy.”

Nick Pellicani, father

The third annual Golfing for Gabi fundraiser was the most profitable yet, with residents hitting the Rockville Links on Sept. 23 and raising $80,000 for brain cancer research.

The event is named in for Gabi Pellicani, who died of brain cancer in 2018, at age 5. The activities included golf, dinner and a silent auction. Over the past three years, the outing has raised about $200,000 for Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where Gabi was treated.

“We are so thankful for the tremendous support and generosity of the entire community in making this year’s event the most successful yet,” Gabi’s father, Nick Pellicani, said. “Working to find better treatments for those with brain cancer is more than just continuing Gabi’s legacy, [it’s] also about giving hope and a future to so many others that deserve it.”

Guests bid on 47 gift baskets at the silent auction, with the contents ranging from a Hawaii vacation to a New York City helicopter tour and Billy Eilish concert tickets, to baskets of Gabi and her little brother Antonio’s favorite toys, as well as golf gear and some of Gabi’s artwork.

Her grandparents Paul and Lisa Pellicani came from Olde Severna Park, Md., for the event, and supported the cause by sponsoring the fifth hole, representing the five years the family had with Gabi. During the dinner, Paul presented checks totaling more than $9,500, raised among their friends in Maryland.

A record 160 golfers took part this year, helping to amass nearly $80,000 to support brain cancer research at Dana-Farber, where Gabi underwent a clinical trial. Jessica Tipping Tellekamp, of Marlborough, Mass., who is battling brain cancer herself and being treated at Dana-Farber, was the dinner’s guest speaker.

Tellekamp has had glioblastoma — the same aggressive brain cancer that Gabi had — for the past four years. According to the Brain Tumour Charity, the average survival time for the disease is 12 to 18 months, with only 5 percent of patients surviving more than five years.

Tellekamp sought a second opinion at Dana-Farber on the advice of a social worker, and she continues to battle the cancer today, far past the expected timeline from the original diagnosis. “There is life-extending, groundbreaking work being done at Dana-Farber,” she said. “And this event, this family, and all of you make a difference.”

The Pellicanis said they were thrilled with the turnout and the support, having surpassed their fundraising goal of $60,000.