Cancer overcomes Danny Zabicki
Elizabeth Gabriel
from the Sierra Star

 
 
DANIEL ‘DANNY’ ALEKSANDER ZABICKI SEPT. 5,1991 TO OCT. 10, 2008

Daniel Aleksander Zabicki, whose fight against cancer has been a rallying cause in the Mountain Area, has died. Danny is the son of Roman and Laura Zabicki, owners of Crab Cakes restaurant and Sweet Dreams Cakery. He has a brother, Andrzej.

Danny just turned 17; he was born in San Diego Sept. 5, 1991. His death was at home in North Fork.

He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in April 2007. When the Rhabdomyosarcoma was found, it was already at an advanced stage.

Danny has undergone numerous treatments, scans, chemo and has been in been in a coma. He has had brain surgeries and seizures.

Through it all, when he could, he showed his feisty self with his cry of "Bite me, cancer."

Danny continued to pursue his passions. Read constantly and hit the dirt bike trails and the slopes, where he loved snowboarding. He also was a cinema fan and, by all accounts, quite a critic.

The Mountain Area community has rallied around the family with donations of time, work, money and prayers. A website kept people posted on the young man's condition.

A review of the postings on www.carepages.com, shows messages of hope and consolation from all over the world. Many of the people never met Danny but were moved by his spirit.

Typical is one signed Johnny:

I can only pray that God will comfort you now, and I am unsure of how to feel or act. But the lesson Danny taught so many of us will never be forgotten. It feels like Danny left that lesson in our charge to share like footprints on my soul."

Some sent poems, Scripture, song lyrics or short stories -- things that had been a comfort to them in trying circumstances.

From a person who had followed Danny's story while in India came this:

"... reading about Danny, and his zest for life ... it became obvious to me that he is a wonderful person. ... I wish you all the best and hope that the healing process makes you even stronger."

In May, it looked as though all was well, but doctors spotted a new mass in his brain.

The family has been with him constantly these last few weeks, and once again, friends have stepped in to help keep the business going.

The family has a fund at Yosemite Bank in Oakhurst. It's called the Danny Zabicki Medical Fund, but the Zabickis plan to keep it growing to help families in the Mountain Area dealing with childhood illnesses.

A funeral Mass celebrated his life at Our Lady of the Sierra in Oakhurst on Wednesday.