Family Struggling With Medical Bills Gifted Free Roof

By Cass Jacoby.  

Arizona family with youngest battling cancer receives a roof replacement just in time for Christmas. 

Joe and Nicole Pontarelli noticed the cracks in their garage ceiling not long after closing on their home in Chandler, Arizona. However, those cracks would look small in comparison to their daughter’s diagnosis a few months later.  

Kiara was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that has barred her from playing pool volleyball or continuing to play the clarinet in her school band. "I was hearing the doctor, but I wasn't processing the words he was saying, everything kind of blurred," Kiara told ABC 15 Arizona. "You want to be normal, but you can't because you're going through something that makes that impossible.” 

Kiara was diagnosed at the start of the eighth grade, and now at 15, has had nearly a dozen surgeries on her bones. The Pontarelli’s say that the medical bills are still piling up. Understandably, the cracks in the garage ceiling were the least of their problems.  

That is until a Thursday morning in December when the family woke up to the sound of hammers. American Roofing and Waterproofing was giving the family the ultimate Christmas gift: one less thing to worry about.  

Nicole’s employer stumbled upon a radio station where a local roofing company was looking to give away a free roof to a family in need. She nominated Pontarelli’s. 

"We found a family that was even more deserving than what we thought we would run into,” Scott Lewis with American Roofing and Waterproofing tells ABC 15 Arizona. 

The Pontarelli’s were one of about 30 people who were nominated. Scott estimates the new roof is valued at over $10,000. The new roof is a sign of hope in the family’s fight against defeating Kira’s cancer. Nicole tells ABC 15 Arizona, “to have that taken off our plate, is amazing.” 

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About Cass  

Cass works as a reporter/writer for RoofersCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When she isn’t writing about roofs, she is writing about movies for her master's degree and dancing with her plants.   

Photo credit: ABC 15