Southold family raises money for dad after emergency open heart surgery
The Daddona family of Southold is asking for your help.
Lenny Daddona went in for a routine doctor’s appointment on Wednesday, March 13 and was immediately transferred to South Shore University Hospital for quadruple bypass surgery.
After recovering in the hospital for 10 days, Lenny is back home with his family and on the road to healing. However, the intense cardiac procedure will keep Lenny from operating his seasonal landscaping and irrigation business for months.
“Our dad is the most selfless, kind person one could meet — he’s a hard worker and has always put his family and friends before himself,” said his daughter, Olivia. “He takes so much pride in his job and works as hard as he possibly can.”
His wife, Randee, is an Emmy award-winning freelance photojournalist who regularly contributes to Newsday. Her work has been featured in other Long Island publications, such as Times Review Media Group and Edible East End.
Randee has also not been able to work as much lately due to caring for her husband during his recovery, Olivia said.
For the self-employed parents, this is the busiest season for both their professions. With both of them limited to work, Olivia and her four siblings — Matthew, Kaitlin, Julia and Michael — launched a GoFundMe page to ease the financial stress the family is facing during this difficult time.
“An emergency open-heart surgery would devastate any family,” the Daddona siblings said on their GoFundMe page. “For Lenny and our mom, Randee, it also means an incredible disruption to the most important time of the year for them financially.”
So far, the family has almost reached their $35,000 goal with over 320 donations. All the proceeds raised will go towards the medical and monthly bills the come in the next few months while Lenny is out of work.
Olivia said the smallest donations and people simply sharing the page with others goes a long way.
“We are so grateful to our community for being so helpful with the page,” Olivia said. “Even strangers who have never met our family are taking the time to contribute and share and we are so thankful for all the love and support we’ve received at this point, and I know that my dad is so appreciative of all the support as well.”
To contribute, donate directly to tinyurl.com/LennysRecovery.
