NJ waitress picks up tab for customer with cancer

A small tab picked up by a server at Brothers Pizza in Hamilton made a big impact on a couple going through the biggest fight of their life.

Rick Lewallen has been undergoing an intensive, experimental cancer treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York to treat his brain cancer.  He and his wife, Annette, stopped by the Route 33 eatery and were served by 17-year-old Daniela Bossi, whose younger sister is best friends with the Lewallen's daughter, Ashley.

Daniela wrote a note on the couple's check praising them for "putting up the biggest fight" and paid for their meal: a salad for him and a slice of pizza for her.

"I am a strong believer in karma and this is something I needed to do," the senior at Notre Dame High School told New Jersey 101.5.

Daniela said she lost her mother at a young age.

"They always included (my sister) in family activities and made her feel specia,l" she said, adding that Rick Lewallen is a "great man" and he and his wife deserved to be treated. 

Pasquale Carannante, one of the owners of Brother's, is proud and impressed by his employee of two months.

"She's a great employee," Carannante said.

What most impressed him was that there was no parent prompting her to pick up the tab: "It's hard to find people like that."

Annette Lewallen was brought to tears by the gesture and praised her in a Facebook post.

"The world is a better place because of people like you," Annette Lewallen wrote. "We are overwhelmed with her kindness! God bless you FOREVER, Daniela."

"My calling is to help people out," said Bossi, who hopes to attend Mercer County Community College and then transfer to St. Francis or TCNJ to pursue a career as an ER nurse.