September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and support for children battling cancer and the families fighting alongside them.

For Cleveland couple Jon Kozesky and Amber Toth, the month has always been personal. This year, it also marked one of the most personal moments of their lives.

On September 19, the couple married at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and they used their wedding to give back to the families and organization that helped bring them together.

Instead of a traditional registry, Kozesky and Toth asked guests, friends and the community to donate to The Littlest Heroes, with a goal of raising more than $100,000 for Northeast Ohio families battling pediatric cancer.

And those families won’t simply be beneficiaries of the wedding. Standing beside the couple as flower girls and a ring bearer were Littlest Heroes kids who battled cancer, received support from the organization and are now survivors.

For Kozesky and Toth, it’s the latest chapter in a story that began long before they met. Years ago, The Littlest Heroes supported Kozesky’s own family during a childhood cancer battle. The experience stayed with him, and he later became involved with the organization to pay forward the kindness his family had received. It was through that service that he met Toth.

Nearly a decade later, they now run the same organization that once helped Kozesky’s family and together have helped provide millions of dollars in financial assistance and support to local families facing pediatric cancer.

Despite Kozesky’s very Polish last name, he’s actually half Italian and was largely raised by the Arcaro side of his family, which hails from Campobasso, Italy.

Kozesky grew up in Conneaut, Ohio, which has a strong Italian American community. In fact, many of his neighbors and family friends also trace their roots back to Campobasso. He later spent four years living in Cleveland’s Little Italy while attending Case Western Reserve University.

Kozesky was also a partner in Francesco’s Italian Restaurant and Bakery, which operated for many years in Broadview Heights. Of all his business ventures, Francesco’s remains one of his absolute favorites and actually played a role in how he first became involved with The Littlest Heroes. For years, the restaurant ran a program delivering meals to local hospitals for families whose children were undergoing treatment, which became one of his earliest connections to the organization and its families.

Kozesky is very proud of his Italian roots and the role the Italian American community in Northeast Ohio has played throughout his life.

“Long before I ever knew of The Littlest Heroes, they showed up for my family when we needed them,” Kozesky said. “I got involved years later because I wanted to do for another family what someone had done for mine. I never imagined that decision would lead me to Amber, or that ten years later we’d be getting married and leading the organization together.”

The Littlest Heroes provides emotional, social and economic support to children battling cancer and their families throughout Northeast Ohio. That can mean keeping the lights on or rent paid, putting gas in a parent’s car for another hospital trip, providing groceries or emergency assistance, or creating experiences that allow families to simply be together during treatment.

On September 19, some of those families were able to be there for Kozesky and Toth. “Those kids and their families aren’t just people we’ve served. They’ve become part of our lives,” Toth said. “We’ve been there for some incredibly difficult days, but we’ve also gotten to be there for some of the best ones. Having them beside us for one of the happiest days of our lives makes this feel like so much more than a wedding.”

Service has been a thread throughout the couple’s relationship and even played a role in their engagement. While returning from a charitable mission trip to Africa, they had a layover in Cairo, where Kozesky proposed in front of the Egyptian pyramids.

“We’ve had so many people show up for us throughout our lives, often without knowing what their kindness might set in motion,” Kozesky said. “Someone showed up for my family. That inspired me to serve. Service brought Amber and me together. Now we get to use the day we celebrate that story to show up for the next family. There’s something pretty special about that.”

The couple hopes their unusual wedding registry encourages others to think about how they can make a difference with whatever they have to offer. “You don’t need to change the world,” Kozesky added. “You just have to be willing to change a little piece of it for somebody. If our wedding helps a family breathe a little easier or inspires someone else to find their own way to help, that’s a pretty incredible wedding gift.”

The Kozesky’s wedding story has turned into national news and the outpouring of support for The Littlest Heroes has been incredible with donations coming in from people all over the country.

The Littlest Heroes is a Northeast Ohio nonprofit providing emotional, social and economic support to children battling cancer and their families. Through emergency financial assistance, family support programs and special experiences, the organization works to ease the burdens that accompany a childhood cancer diagnosis and ensure families know they do not have to face it alone. 

To donate, volunteer or learn more, please visit thelittlestheroes.org.

All photos courtesy of Jon Kozensky and Amber Toth