Legacy of dying daughter's midnight dream

Former major league baseball coach Rich Donnelly went to Haddonfield a few weeks ago to tell students about the chicken that ran at midnight - the story of his cancer-stricken daughter, a magical baseball game, and the grace found in helping others.

Donnelly shared his tale in the hope of helping seriously ill children in the area, including a 7-year-old borough girl named Mia Strobel, who is battling cancer. At Haddonfield Memorial and Paul VI High Schools, students sat in hushed attention.

"It was very emotional," said Isabella Canuso, 17, a Haddonfield Memorial junior. "There wasn't a dry eye."

Moved to action, students, faculty, officials, and a local charitable foundation are working to help.

"This is something special," said John Canuso, Isabella Canuso's grandfather and organizer of the two events, attended by more than 1,500 people. "The community has been inspired to help families in need."

During spring training in 1992, Donnelly was coaching third for the Pittsburgh Pirates when his 17-year-old daughter, Amy, called from Arlington, Texas.

Amy. Sandy hair and blue eyes. Funny. Playful. Tough. Her father's little girl.

"Dad," she said over the phone. "I don't want you to be mad, but I have something to tell you. I have a brain tumor. I'm sorry."

Doctors said the tumor was malignant. Amy was given nine months.

Six months later, Amy - bald from chemotherapy - was in the stands for a playoff game at Three Rivers Stadium. On the ride home, she wondered what her father had said as he crouched behind third base and yelled to the baserunners.

"What are you telling them?" she asked. "That the chicken runs at midnight?"

Donnelly laughed.

"It just came out," she explained.

For the next game, Amy was home with friends and pom-poms. She called the clubhouse and dictated a message:

"Dear Dad, the chicken runs at midnight. Love, Amy."

Donnelly shared the message with a player, who repeated it on national television during the team introductions. Amy and her friends went bonkers. Donnelly's dream of winning a World Series had become his daughter's. But the Pirates lost.

The odd little saying became the Donnelly family motto as Amy battled her disease that winter.

"She was amazing," Donnelly said. "She laughed and had a good time. Most kids would have been upset, but she was more concerned about the effect her death would have on the family - her brothers and mother and father. She taught us all how to live."

After Amy died in January 1993, the family inscribed "The Chicken Runs at Midnight" on her gravestone.

"That was her," Donnelly said.

Four years later, Donnelly was coaching third for the Florida Marlins in Game Seven of the World Series, with Amy's note in his pocket and his two sons in uniform as bat boys.

The game went into extra innings. Craig Counsell, nicknamed "Chicken Wing" for his batting stance, scored the winning run. Pandemonium. Donnelly's sons ran to their father and told him to look at the scoreboard clock. It was 12:01 a.m.

The chicken had run at midnight.

"I went limp," Donnelly said.

Now retired and living in California, Donnelly shares his story, featured on a Lifetime Network special, with audiences across the country and tries to engage others to help sick children.

Enter Canuso, of Haddonfield, a developer and the father of seven and grandfather of 21.

"John Canuso is a person always on the lookout for opportunities to make a difference," said a friend, Msgr. Michael Mannion of Camden.

In 1974, when his 9-year-old daughter, Joan, known as "Babe," was diagnosed with leukemia, Canuso created the Canuso Foundation to fund pediatric cancer research and help parents dealing with their children's sickness. That year, he cofounded the country's first Ronald McDonald House, near Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Babe beat her disease, married, had children, and was the heart of the foundation.

"The heart of the family," Canuso said.

At 37, Babe was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The foundation went into a lull as the family mourned her death five years ago.

Late last year, "we decided it was time to get back in the game," Canuso said.

The family started Babe's Kids with 11 of Canuso's grandchildren as its nucleus. Most are in Haddonfield schools. The group helps organize fund-raisers for sick children and volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House and summer camp.

"Kids helping kids," Canuso said.

Through the foundation, Babe's Kids met Mia, who was diagnosed with leukemia and a heart defect on Christmas four years ago. She has endured heart surgeries and many rounds of chemotherapy.

For a time, her hair grew back, and she played sports and took a trip to the woods with her classmates from Central Elementary in Haddonfield. Last year, Mia underwent heart-bypass surgery; her 10-year-old brother, Steven, donated bone marrow. She continues to undergo treatment.

Last month, a friend showed Canuso a tape of Donnelly's story.

"He called me out of the blue," Donnelly said.

The men bonded over their losses and desire to help others.

"What if I got a couple of high schools to lend us their assemblies? Would you come to New Jersey?" Canuso asked.

On March 10, Donnelly visited the schools. The lights dimmed and his video was played.

"I never heard an auditorium so quiet," recalled Aimee Zaremba, a teacher at Paul VI.

Afterward, Donnelly took the stage without introduction.

"I could hear the kids whispering, 'I think that's him, the guy from the video,' " remembered Haddonfield Memorial principal Mike Wilson.

Donnelly talked about appreciating life's blessings and using them to help others.

Canuso described his foundation, and his grandchildren told their classmates how to get involved. Mia's brother got a standing ovation.

The two schools have green-lighted their own Babe's Kids clubs, to start next year.

"There's a tremendous amount of interest," Wilson said.

On May 7, Paul VI will hold a Babe's Kids Dodgeball Tournament. The goal is to raise $20,000 for the Ronald McDonald House in Camden.

Canuso and Haddonfield Memorial students, faculty, and community members also are organizing the first "The Chicken Runs at Midnight" memorial run, to take place in Haddonfield on May 21. It will culminate at - you guessed it - midnight. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. on the school football field, where there will be carnival games, food, entertainment, and races around the school track.

At 11 p.m., the borough will close Kings Highway for a 5K run through town. The entry fee will be $25.

The group would like to raise $30,000 for the Strobel family, Canuso said. He said he hoped the event would become an annual tradition that other local towns would copy to help sick children.

Donnelly plans to speak at other local high schools next month and will be in Haddonfield for the run.

"I can't wait to get back," he said.

On the Canuso Foundation and the coming events is at www.canusofoundation.org

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