ROCHESTER, N.Y. — According to the New York State Department of Health, nearly 115,000 cancer cases will impact New Yorkers alone. That's why beating the disease is worth a celebration. Every year, the first Sunday of June is National Cancer Survivor Day.

For cancer survivors and their families, the first Sunday of June is a reminder of support every year.

“We have a lot of kids who are here today who are over treatment for years and are still celebrating with us at the picnic," said Michelle Magin, a parent Advocate for CURE Childhood Cancer and mother of Geovanni Peruzzini, a 15-year cancer survivor. "So it’s great to see them in this environment."

Geovanni was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 years old.

“Hearing the words that your child has cancer and is going to have to spend years in therapy is, I mean, the hardest day of my life,” Michelle said. “The bits I remember were just hard,” said Geovanni, who is now 20 years old. “It was mainly in and out of hospitals. We lived at the hospital for, like, a few months and then we would live at home. It was just a constant transition of back and forth.”

What You Need To Know

  • According to the New York State Department of Health, nearly 115,000 New Yorkers are diagnosed with cancer every year

  • National Cancer Survivor Day is recognized annually on the first Sunday of June
  •  Support for cancer survivors and their families is a crucial part of the recovery process

Now a 15-year cancer survivor, he knows the importance of showing support for children with similar experiences.

“It's just really nice being able to help kids that are going through something similar and giving them like a day or many days throughout the year for all the events where they don’t have to worry about their hospital stuff,” he said.

He's been a role model for his sister and himself.

“I feel like he was very brave because he was so young to have cancer and it must have been very hard for him to fight through," said Amelia Magin, Geovanni’s younger sister. "But he fought through and he survived and I’m really happy for him.

"Life just happens," Geovanni said. "Life is random. You can get diagnosed as a 2-year-old or a 90-year-old. It really can happen anyway."

Support is an ongoing need for both survivors and their families.

“Because I’m a parent of a cancer survivor, just to be able to connect with the other families in the hospital and know what they’re going through," Michelle said. "It's such a wonderful thing to see that people can be so supportive of each other."

“Thousands, millions of people across the planet are dealing with it and there’s people who are supporting them,” said Geovanni.