Rod's Day Benefits Colon Cancer Research

Friends, family and neighbors packed the noisy, dimly lit dining room of Mo’s Place in Playa del Rey on Saturday to raise money for colon cancer research and to celebrate the life of Rod Fasone, a University of Indiana graduate and son of a Playa del Rey resident who died nearly 20 years ago from colon cancer at the age of 21. 

Dennis Fasone, Rod’s father, has been organizing the Rod’s Day benefit in Playa del Rey for the last 19 years since his son died in 1992 from a rare form of advanced colon cancer shortly after graduating from college.

Fasone’s objective with Rod’s Day is to fund colon cancer research, specifically the efforts of Dr. Anton Bilchik who studies colon cancer at the California Oncology Research Institute (CORI).  The focus of Bilchik’s research is to discover better methods for early detection and more effective treatments, things that might have saved Rod’s life.

“It’s difficult even 19 years later,” Fasone said, stifling tears as he described his son. “He was very special. He didn’t understand what a stranger was.”

Fasone talked about the strength his son had, especially after his diagnosis.

“He was a great inspiration. They told him he had 60 days to live ... and his response was ‘Expletive that, I’m not going.’ ”

Rod was diagnosed during his junior year of college, but fought for his life for two more years. He finished college, got a job with a U.S. senator and even entered graduate school before his death. 

Rod’s friends from high school and college have come to the event for nearly two decades, which is testimony to the effect Rod had on people.

There also has been no shortage of support from friends in the community. Nearly 75 people showed up Saturday, a turnout that testifies to the outpouring of support the community has provided the Fasones over the years. 

Everyone in attendance knew the Fasones personally, either Dennis or wife Diane or Rod, and most said they had been affected by cancer one way or another and could relate to the Fasones' loss.

Most have also been coming to the event year after year.

“The whole community supported him and did what they could for Dennis. It’s such a great loss,” said Jenny Krebs, who has attended Rod’s Day since its inception. 

Participants said they see Rod’s Day as a good cause, and they believe they are helping cure cancer in a small way by making a donation or buying a raffle ticket to support CORI’s research. 

To date, Dennis Fasone estimates that Rod’s Day has raised nearly $1 million for CORI’s research, even pulling in major donors such as Joyce Eisenberg-Keefer, who committed a $1.5 million matching grant.

The funding has provided a vehicle for Bilchik to make major advancements in colon cancer research. 

“Our work has been widely recognized around the world,” Bilchik said. “We have published several important papers recently, some of which are changing the way we manage colon cancer.”

For one, Bilchick studies ways to detect colon cancer when it’s still curable, before it becomes advanced. A colonoscopy is not always able to detect it at that point. 

He is also studying tumors at the genetic level to understand what makes those cells unique and how to tailor treatment to the specific tumor in each specific patient instead of treating all patients the same with chemotherapy.

“That’s the future of cancer treatment,” Bilchik said.

Bilchik is also heading up clinical trials in collaboration with the U.S. military with the goal "to essentially cure colon cancer,” Bilchik said. 

“It’s come a long way; [there have been] more advances made in colon cancer in the last 10 years than just about any other type of cancer,” Bilchik said.

And that’s just what the Fasones have hoped for in organizing Rod’s Day: that their son’s death was not in vain and that by putting funding in the right hands, doctors like Bilchik will find a cure.