GUILFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — A Guilford grandfather spends a large amount of his time making a beautiful gift for cancer patients and then personally delivering it with a smile and kind word.
“Open it up, fold it down,” Paul ‘Desi’ Desiderio said as he instructed on the art of origami.
We manipulate a simple piece of paper, creasing and pressing, using our brains and hands.
“We need to turn it into a kite,” he said. “Take this and lay it down as close to the line as you can.”
The process, based on Japanese tradition, is rhythmic and relaxing.
And, for Desi, it has become a way of life.
“I had a little arthritis in my hands when I started,” he said with an ever-present smile. “After a while, it’s gone away.”
This story begins when Desi, recovering from lung cancer, attended a survivors’ support group in 2018.
“Somebody said at a meeting, ‘If you make 1000 origami birds, all your dreams come true.’ We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘What the heck are we waiting for?'” he explained.
Desi helped make these Birds of Hope that hung in the lobby of Smilow Cancer Hospital and he never stopped.
“We’ve purchased about 12,000 sheets of paper,” he said.
Which means this man, at 82 years old, has made about 12,000 paper cranes and walked the halls, giving his creations to cancer patients, at their most vulnerable.
“And 99.9 percent of them are often in tears or the biggest smile you’ve ever seen on a person,” he said.
“He’s such an amazing person and an amazing volunteer,” said Fernanda Clariana, Coordinator of Volunteer Programs at Yale New Haven Hospital’s Saint Raphael Campus.
During the pandemic, this grandfather donated his birds to hard-working nurses.
“He actually has over 3000 volunteer hours in our system,” she said.
Despite the praise, Desi says this daily ritual has changed his own trajectory, softening a once hardened heart.
“There’s not two dollars’ worth of materials here,” he said as he showed off a bird.
But this simple gift of love is priceless, providing a personal touch when someone needs it the most.
“I’m a lucky, lucky man and every day I feel like I’ve won the lotto,” he said. “It’s become very therapeutic to me. It’s an integral part of my life. I don’t think I could go very long and not do this anymore.”
And Desi will continue to make his birds and hand them out, for as long as he possibly can.