Family and friends will gather tonight at a fundraiser at the Sons of Italy Hall to help Debra Tiano Face, who is raising a family while fighting cancer.
In her darkest moments, the Waltham native says, the love of her family and friends helps her cope.
"My kids get me by. They're the love of our lives," she said. "My kids are pretty positive. They know we're going to get through it."
Face, 45, who now lives in Florida, was diagnosed last year with Stage 3 breast cancer, and underwent a double mastectomy. Her husband, Charles, suffers from primary pulmonary hypertension, a chronic, debilitating illness which has left him unable to work.
Colin Young, a Waltham High School science teacher, is a longtime friend. He'll attend the For the Love of Debbie fundraiser.
"It's important because their back is against the wall. You can't get beat up any more than what they've been through," he said. "Her husband is unemployed so he can't work. He can barely breathe half the time. With this outpouring of support, hopefully it's enough for her to overcome this illness and to stay strong."
When she's not sick from cancer treatments, she works as a bartender at the Howard Johnson Plaza Resort in Deerfield Beach, Fla., to support her children, Tia, 8 and Chucky, 10.
Tiano, a 1982 Waltham High School grad, lived in Waltham for nearly 34 years before moving to New Hampshire. In 1999, she married Charles Face, a Tewksbury native.
Two years later, Charles was diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension.
"Every year he gets worse and worse," she said. "After 10 years of living in New Hampshire we decided to move to Florida. We wanted to get out of the snow."
Face finished chemotherapy on April 20 and her cancer is now in remission. She'll soon undergo radiation therapy and is taking an experimental drug to help with bone loss.
"I have to do 28 days of radiation and I have to have my ovaries removed. I'm going to be on hormone therapy for the next 10 years," she said. "I've got a long road ahead of me."
Face's sister, Karen Chisholm of Billerica, organized the fundraiser, enlisting businesses to donate, including Frederick Brasco Florist Inc., The Chateau restaurant, Fulciniti's Market and Hannaford supermarkets, donating food. She also enlisted the help of family and friends who will tend bar and play music.
Chisholm said she and her sister have used the social networking Web site Facebook to contact old friends and invite them to attend.
"We've really had the whole community come together," Chisholm said. "Basically we're going to have dinner, dancing and then a slide show. I think my sister has 900 old pictures to show."
Face said that judging from the feedback she's received from her online invitation, many of her old friends who have moved away plan to return tonight.
"The friends we've made in Waltham, they are like family. My sister goes to the Sons of Italy all the time and people think it's me," she said. "When you grow up in Waltham, it doesn't matter how long you've been away. It's like you never missed a beat."
The fundraiser starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Sons of Italy, 99 Cedar St. Face and her family plan to attend. Tickets are $25 per person.
For those unable to attend, donations can be made by check or credit card at any Bank of America branch, care of the Debra Face Fund.
Jeff Gilbride can be reached at 781-398-8005 or jgilbrid@cnc.com.
