Saying Good Bye Is Never Easy
Comedian VINCENT HICKEY
September 20, 1978 ~ September 5, 2021 (Age 42)
I
n an article on the University of Illinois hospital website our friend, Vinny Raponi was diagnosed with aggressive leukemia but he never stopped smiling.
According to the article, he was generally doing comedy around the city and one night woke up with a swollen tongue. He went to the hospital. They ran tests and of course, he had feelings when they said “you might want to sit down”. That’s how Vinny Raponi found out that he had leukemia. Nonetheless, Vinny was tough. In fact, he beat leukemia. Then a short time later was diagnosed with a different kind of brain cancer. Vinny disappeared and friends of his like me wondered where he was? We did not worry about him because he was a strong Chicago guy. In fact, he was from the Bridgeport area. An area is known for its blur collar “grit”. I’m sure he had many battles and we watched him win consistently against cancer, but as you know cancer never loses. Cancer only waits for its next moment and if you don’t win. One and done- the game is over.
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SeeStandup.com
Yep, you guessed it, unfortunately, we lost Vinnie Raponi and so we got together. The couple of comedians that had the opportunity to spend time with him celebrated his life with his family. The pictures of the event Vinny appeared all across Chicago. Vinny will be missed. He will always be best known for his appearances in the plays he specialized in. The biggest play: Death of a Cannoli Salesman. We miss you Vinny and we look forward to seeing you in the afterlife my friend go up there and make them laugh. I wanna thank Vinnies mom for sharing him with us one last time.
