Thursday, October 1, 2026
Jonah Gruda, who died last year at age 45 from a rare form of cancer, held a desire to leave the world a better place than how he found it, those who knew him recalled.
“He wanted to do better for the world,” Gruda’s wife, Debra, told the Herald.
His friends and family are now planning to honor and celebrate his life and legacy with the “Because Jonah Would” benefit at Mulcahy’s, at 3232 Railroad Ave. in Wantagh, on Jan. 24, from 1 to 5 p.m.
Gruda, a Farmingdale resident, died on June 30, 2025 from cholangiocarcinoma, an aggressive cancer of the bile duct. According to the Cleveland Clinic, an American nonprofit academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio, those who are diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in its later stages have a five-year survival rate of between 2 and 3 percent, with symptoms that include jaundice, itchy skin, abdominal pain and weight loss.
Debra recalled her husband being told by doctors that he “should start thinking about life in years and not decades” after his diagnosis in September 2023 when they found a 6.5 cm tumor on his liver.
He endured 45 rounds of chemotherapy over the course of treating the cancer, and underwent an operation on March 1, 2024 at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, where surgeons removed 40 percent of his liver as well as multiple tumors they found in his belly and intestinal tract.
While undergoing treatment, Gruda began working with the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation, whose mission is to find a cure and improve the quality of life for those affected by bile duct cancer. The Utah-based, non-profit foundation was created in 2006, supporting basic and translational research and raising awareness in the cholangiocarcinoma community through advocacy, education, collaboration and research.
“He found a tremendous amount of support within the foundation,” Debra added.
The “Because Jonah Would” benefit at Mulcahy’s pub and concert hall will feature live music by Ready in 10, a six-piece band based in Long Island. The benefit will also include an open bar, food, a silent auction and raffles featuring sports tickets, signed sports paraphernalia and items that Debra said anyone, including herself, would want to bid on.
The goal is to raise $85,000 to name a Research Fellowship, administered through the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation's program to promising early-career investigators, driving innovation and discovery in the field of cholangiocarcinoma in Gruda's memory. The grant is presented to the researchers at their annual conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, the first weekend in May.
As of press time, roughly $81,000 has been raised, and Debra added that she anticipated eclipsing the fundraising goal at the benefit.
For Debra, the months of fundraising and planning have been a positive outlet to process the grief of losing her husband, whom she described as the cornerstone of her life.
“I have a place to pour in time and energy,” she said. “With grief,” she explained, “the idle time is so difficult. When things get quiet, that's when your mind starts going, and that's when it's so easy to start going down these angry rabbit holes.”
Brooke Fierro grew up with Gruda in New City, a hamlet upstate in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County. They graduated from Clarkston North Senior High School in 1998 and then attended Penn State University, graduating together in 2002.
“I already knew about the severity of this cancer when he told me,” said Fierro, whose husband's best friend from college also died from cholangiocarcinoma.
“He was pretty shocked that I even knew a cholangiocarcinoma,” said Fierro, a graphic designer who’s been running the benefits instagram account @BecauseJonahWould. “Jonah was one of my best friends. We didn't see each other very often because we don't live near each other. But we always held space for each other.”
George Frenzel, of Massapequa Park, described Gruda as his best friend. “I met Jonah as a goofy guy on the sidelines,” he recalled. “Our kids became best friends, and the rest of us kind of fell in line.” Frenzel’s daughter even made the benefit the focus of her bat mitzvah project.
“It's an honor,” Frenzel said of the money raised so far, crediting Debra for “doing the heavy lifting. “If we can change other families' outcomes and give them a better experience in a possible cure with a grant, that'd be amazing.”
Sara Evans, who lives in Washington, D.C., was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma in March 2023, and met Gruda later that year. “He's such a funny guy,” she said, recalling that when they first connected, “he immediately FaceTimed me, which is very controversial among millennials.”
Evans travels to New York for her treatment and plans to attend the Jan. 24 benefit “with bells and whistles,” along with others from the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation.
“It's gonna be a really great day,” Debra said. “It's not just raising money. It's the goal of spreading this idea of doing the little things.” Tickets for the benefit are still available and can be purchased at Givebutter.com.
