A Canarsie kid battling cancer got a big surprise when he came home to his room to find that the Heat was on — his walls.
Students from State University of New York Downstate’s Oncology Club redecorated the bedroom of an 11-year-old cancer patient — and avid Miami Heat fan — transforming into a basketball-themed dream pad on April 6.
“Daryl was crazy about it,” said the boy’s father, Ricardo Cantave.
Each year, the med-student club sends a young cancer patient’s family out for a day on the town to museums, movies, and restaurants — but the real surprise is when the patients get home and find that their bedrooms have been completely transformed.
This year, students turned Daryl Cantave’s bedroom into a Miami Heat-themed paradise with life-sized posters of players, figurines, and a basketball bean bag chair.
Organizers say the student-run project helps them get out of the library and connect with people.
“It’s easy to get lost in school work, and this is a great way to see the human side of things,” said club member Lance Lyons.
This is the third year these med-school miracle-workers have transformed a patient’s room. It’s the biggest event of the year for the Oncology Club, Lyons said.
The group sets up a gift registry at a department store and spends all year fund-raising for the project with events like “pie a professor.”
“That one always has a good turnout,” Lyons said.
About 45 people contributed to the work on Saturday, which took about 12 hours, and it was all worth every drop of sweat, Lyons said.
“It’s a feel-good kind of thing, and everybody in the school really rallies behind it,” he said.
