‘That’s what keeps her going’: Montrealer battling 2 cancers for last decade organizes event for Italian community

For the last decade, Dina Vitale has been defying the odds.

The 68-year-old Italian Montrealer has been battling two types of cancers since 2014, including breast cancer.

She was given six months to live.

“My first reaction is that I have grandchildren and my children, so I’m going to fight for survive for these people,” she told OMNI News.

Vitale is driven by determination, inner strength, her faith – and helping others. She put together an event Sunday in Montreal to spread joy to the community.

Her daughter Sabrina Fava says her mother is always thinking of others.

“She’s very devoted. When she does something, she goes all out,” said Fava. “She really likes them and she wants to have this thing done and do this for her, but also for the community because she wants to share that with children. She pretty much organized everything. That’s her style.”

The April 7 event was also in memory of her loved ones. Vitale has been through many losses over the years, while she fought her own battle to survive.

She was undergoing chemotherapy and couldn’t travel to Italy after her mother’s death in 2014. Then her husband passed away in 2018, just two weeks before her father’s death in Italy.

Montrealer Dina Vitale with her mother, who passed away in 2014. (Submitted by: Dina Vitale)

Montrealer Dina Vitale with her father, who passed away in 2014. (Submitted by: Dina Vitale)

“The way she works is that when she gets home, I guess she gets a little tired and she gets very emotional and she has a tendency sometimes to get emotional – you’re on your own and you kind of get a little depressed,” Fava said.

“But I think that this kind of stuff keeps her going and keeps her really upbeat and makes her want to go on and do whatever she has to do to make, not only for herself but for other people, to make it fun and to make it lively, to keep this Italian spirit going wherever she is. That’s what keeps her going.”

The St. Francis of Paola Association celebration on Sunday brought together nearly 400 people at Le Chateaubriand Reception Hall.

Calabrian singer-songwriter Cecè Barretta performed at the event. He came from Italy at the express wish, and expense, of Vitale.

“For my mother I think that she’s going to live a very long life because she has that kind of spirit and she also has that kind of hereditary baggage. She’s strong like that,” Fava said.

“Sometimes she’ll seem to be very weak or very fragile, but then she gets up in the morning and she’ll keep going. And that’s the kind of stuff also today that keeps her going as well. And she’s trying to recruit me and other young people too, so she’s really, that’s the good thing about her too. She’s always trying to recruit younger people so that’s what also keeps her going. I think that she’s going to be just fine.”