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Mike Fareri's niece Maria contracted rabies and subsequently died of the disease in 1995, when she was 13 years old. She was treated at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, which is why her parents, John and Brenda Fareri, have been the forerunners in the campaign for the new children's hospital there.
It will be called The Maria Fareri Children's Hospital and they say it win be the only one in the United States that bears the name of a child.
When doctors spoke with Maria's parents about her imminent death, they gave them the news in a hallway; there was nowhere private to consult.
Mike Fareri said the care his niece received was "top shelf ... just great, the best people in that situation to deal with. But the facility left something to be desired."
About 1 1/2 years after Maria's death, John Fareri came up with the idea to create a better place for other parents and their children.
Mike Fareri has been on the board of the children's hospital. About a year ago, he wrote a letter to all the residents of New Castle about his family's tragedy and asked them to make a contribution to the "Reach for the Stars" fund. "I...