Mooney students rally support for player with bone tumor

By Matthew peaslee

mpeaslee@vindy.com

Youngstown

When Cardinal Mooney students gathered in the gymnasium for their weekly prefootball rally Thursday, the game may have taken a back seat.

The Mooney family was there to honor one of its own.

Senior Dante DelSignore is battling osteosarcoma, a cancerous bone tumor.

Dante was a football player. Big, fast and strong, he was always the tallest in his class and one of the most gifted on the field.

When he was diagnosed four years ago, it was a shock, said his sister, Tina DelSignore.

“You just don’t ever expect a kid like that to get sick,” said Tina, who is also an English teacher at Mooney. “When that happens, you just start to look to God to see what you need to do.”

Dante’s friends knew exactly what to do, and they took it upon themselves to rally both for the football game and their best buddy.

“It was all their idea,” a tearful Tina said. “They’d come to me and ask if they could do certain things and of course I let them do whatever came to their minds to make it special, and it truly was.”

The rally began just as any other. Every grade level shrieked when the football team emerged on the court. The band, dance team and cheerleading squad all performed and Mooney alum, Al Williamson, took the microphone to lead the crowd in a “We Are Mooney” chant.

But the real emotions came out when players Carmen Lanzo, Cameron DiVito, Austin Trgovich, A.J. Thomas and Joe DeNiro removed their red jerseys to reveal white shirts that read, “You Are Strong.”

Mooney plans to make today’s 7 p.m. game against Mentor Lake Catholic at Stambaugh Stadium a “white out” to honor Dante. Lake Catholic students making the trip to Youngstown have also agreed to support Dante and wear white at the game.

With a moving soundtrack that included songs, “Stand By Me,” “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Here Comes the Sun” playing in the background, the cheerleaders shaved the heads of the players, a nod to their pal Dante who is begininng his fourth round of chemotherapy this week.

“[The rally] meant the world to us,” DeNiro said. He and Dante have grown up together since their days at St. Charles School. “We just wanted to show support and love.”

Dante was unable to attend the event. He has been at Akron Children’s Hospital for much of his treatment.

He awaits two more chemo treatments within the next two months.

The school recorded the event and plans to send the footage to Dante via Facebook.

“When he sees it, all I know he will just light up,” DelSignore said. “The support does so much more than people would think.”

“This is the Mooney Family,” Ray Marks, Dante’s physics teacher added. “We take care of our own.”