Oconee woman fosters hope with charity: Courage Over Cancers
William Lee Terry
William Lee Terry, age 79, of Rome, passed away Friday, July 28, 2017, in local hospital.
Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday, August 1, 2017, at Good Shepherd Funeral Home Chapel. Interment will follow in Rome Memorial Park. The family will receive friends from 12 p.m. until the funeral hour on Tuesday.
A complete obituary will follow in Tuesday’s edition of the Rome News.
Parnick Jennings, Sr.’s Good Shepherd Funeral Home, 2750 Shorter Ave. Rome, Ga. 30165 has charge of arrangements.
While her mother, Mary, was undergoing chemotherapy, Christina del Giudice noticed that she’d begun keeping a small, stuffed lion on her bedside table.
The lion represented courage and strength.
After Mary passed, it became a beacon of hope to del Giudice and a way to comfort others going through the same struggle she’d lost her mother to.
“A little bit of courage can go a long way,” said del Giudice.
Whenever she heard of a friend, acquaintance or even a stranger who had been diagnosed with cancer, she tried to give a stuffed lion to bring courage and a letter with words of love, which del Giudice has dubbed “Roar-rior Letters.”
Del Giudice has purchased lions for over 60 people in the past 17 years.
“Whenever anybody hears the word cancer, they automatically feel like it’s a death sentence,” said del Giudice. “Although I lost my mother, I know plenty of survivors. It isn’t a death sentence. With courage and fight and love, you can beat it. You can win and, like the lion, be back on top and be king of the jungle.”
After years of hearing stories of people who wished they could have sent a lion to someone they knew, del Giudice finally decided to start her own business, Courage Over Cancers.
The only profits she plans to take are meant to mitigate the costs of the lions, which aren’t cheap, del Giudice said, laughing. She tries to buy stuffed lions whenever she has the spare money. The rest of the proceeds will be donated to researching the cure for cancer.
“I’m really trying to start the business more so for people who want to send a letter of encouragement and a lion even if they can’t be there,” she said. “I’m trying to make people feel better about something so terrible. Give them a little bit of encouragement, a little bit of love in a box.”
Del Guidance’s site, courageovercancers. com, will go live within the coming weeks and will serve as a platform where people can purchase lions, customize their ribbon colors and even write their own personal letters to be mailed with the box of courage.
“I would love to, hopefully at some point, be able to reach all the hospitals,” said del Giudice. “That little lion brightens so many people’s days. I want to spread it to everybody.”