By 22, I'd lost both of my parents to cancer.

No more than one month after my mother, Joanne, lost a brief battle with Leukemia, friends gathered from near and far to celebrate her life — and the life of my father, Butch, who succumbed in 2008 to lung cancer brought on by his work at Ground Zero — while simultaneously raising money to get me back on my feet.

And so, the first ever Cancer Can't Kill Love Benefit Concert was born. Named after a sermon spoken at my mother's funeral and thrown together in the back of a Bay Ridge bar on NFL Sunday, the November 2013 fundraiser served as a platform for local bands to share the stage and supporters to make a toast, all with one common goal: to tell cancer to take a hike. There, we raised just over $1,000 — half of which went to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in my mother's name and memory.

We've been raising the stakes ever since.

Since its inception, Cancer Can't Kill Love has raised more than $100,000 for organizations like LLS, Stand Up to Cancer, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, the Dear Jack Foundation and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Since CCKL3, we've fundraised primarily for MSKCC — the very hospital my father called home for the bulk of his treatment. We've also partnered since 2017 with Be The Match, the global leader in bone marrow transplantation to help register attendees as potential bone marrow/platelet donors for patients in need. We have already helped make at least two matches.

And we're only getting started. In 2018, Cancer Can't Kill Love went global at sister events across the globe via a new initiative, #CancerGrowsLove, started by our 2017 Family of the Year: The Kaahaainas. And in 2019, we broke records, raising $35,000 by year's end — and close to $20,000 in JUST. ONE. NIGHT. at CCKL7.

What began as a way to memorialize my parents has since grown to be so much more. It is bigger than my parents. It is bigger than just one person or just one thing. It is a movement, and it is one that a bunch of Brooklyn 20-somethings work all year to bring to life.

As we all know, 2020 is a weird one — but the show must go on! Our first-ever Cancer Can't Kill LIVESTREAM will take place on Saturday, September 26 at 1 p.m. with the help of our friends at Bridgeside Network. Tune in at GoBridgeside.com or on your preferred social media platform (@GoBridgeside). Donations strongly suggested on or leading up to the day of the event (honor system, people!) to benefit MSKCC. More info can be found at www.cancercantkilllove.com, where a full lineup is still to come.

-- Meaghan McGoldrick, CCKL Lead Organizer