Bethel Park councilmen honor Joey Fabus with memorial bench

A short distance from the house in which Cindy Fabus grew up is a bench bearing the name of her late son.

On Oct. 20, she unveiled a plaque in memory of Joey Fabus on the new seat at the entrance to Pine Tree Park, accessed from N Street in Bethel Park.

“Joey was a bright and amazing young boy who touched the lives of so many,” John Oakes, municipal council president, said during a brief dedication ceremony. “This is a place that meant so much to Joey, and it’s incredible what can happen when a community comes together for a cause.”

At age 8, Joey was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, an inoperable brain tumor. He died in January 2015.

Carrie Berry, his aunt, lives in the family home next to the park. She approached Ward 4 Councilman Todd Cenci about a way to honor her nephew.

In turn, Cenci and Oakes personally bought the bench and had it installed.

“This is why Mr. Cenci and myself got into public service, to help people and to make someone’s day a little brighter,” Oakes said.

After she and daughter Olivia lifted a cover to reveal the plaque, Cindy Fabus expressed gratitude to the council members and to her sister.

“Thank you both for helping to do this and funding this solely on your own, and thank you, Carrie, for reaching out and making this happen,” she said.

She and her husband, David, established the Joey Fabus Childhood Cancer Foundation Inc. to raise money toward research into diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, for which there is currently no cure.

According to the foundation’s website, DIPG results in malignant cells entwining with healthy ones in the brain stem, making them impossible to remove. The disease most commonly strikes children between the ages of 5 and 7, and 90% die within two years of the initial diagnosis.

Several members of the Bethel Park Police Department attended the bench dedication, continuing a longtime relationship with the Fabus family.

“Joey’s lifelong dream was to be a police officer,” his foundation’s website states. “On June 24, 2014, with the help of a wonderful officer and dear friend of Joey’s, Tom Rigatti, Joey was officially sworn in by Judge Ronald Arnoni and became the youngest Bethel Park police officer known.”

For more information, visit jfccf.org.