As a teenager, Danielle Rabel went through a punk phase, sporting a Mohawk that was sometimes dyed green, purple, or red, white and blue. She played the harp, loved soccer, London and unicorns, interned in the corporate world, was a vegetarian and the peacemaker in her family. But that was just the beginning of knowing Danielle Rabel.
“She stood by the phrase ‘Don’t judge a book by it’s cover’,” said her sister, Nicole Rabel of Atlanta. “She really respected life and everyone in it.”
Danielle Kathleen Rabel of Atlanta died Monday, April 1 at Emory University Hospital of complications of leukemia. She was 40. The body was cremated. Cremation Society of Georgia handled the arrangements. A celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Courtyards on Greenwood, 855 Greenwood Ave.
Rabel grew up in the Brookwood Hills neighborhood of Atlanta. She graduated from Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, and received her masters degree in sociology from The London School of Economics. She later worked as a marketing coordinator for the tvsdesign architectural firm.
An animal lover since childhood, Danielle Rabel was allergic to anything with fur, said her mother, Judi Rabel of Tuscaloosa, Ala. “Animals would follow her home and she would have give them to the neighbors.” Despite her allergies, Danielle volunteered with Good Mews Animal Foundation in Marietta and adopted Mellifont the cat, whom she had for 15 years.
Not only a lover of real animals, one of her favorite keepsakes was Cracker Jack, a white teddy bear she acquired as a child after a ride on the Rich’s Pink Pig. According to her mother, the bear traveled with her everywhere, from college in Ohio to her time in London.
In 2009, Danielle was diagnosed with acute myelocytic leukemia. Her mother, a former registered nurse, was the first one to suspect something was wrong. “She called me on a Saturday night. She had had some shortness of breath walking to work, but she just thought it was from allergies. She also said she had these little red dots on her legs, and I immediately recognized that it was an indication of a blood disorder.”
Her mother insisted that she call the doctor and the next morning she did. Danielle went to the hospital and by that afternoon she had received the diagnosis. She was admitted to the hospital for what would be a four-week stay, having a bone marrow biopsy and chemotherapy treatments.
For years, the women in the Rabel family had talked about traveling to Italy and while Danielle was in remission, a September 2012 trip was planned. But two weeks before the trip, Danielle relapsed and her doctor advised her not to travel.
“The family decided to take the bear on the trip,” said her mother. Cracker Jack, the 30-year-old teddy bear, traveled to Italy with the family in Danielle’s place. She followed his travels through emailed photos, messages and a few video calls. “We have about 1,000 pictures of the trip and most of them feature Cracker Jack,” said her mother. “We even made a calendar for her entitled ‘Cracker Jack goes to Italy’.”
Nicole Rabel described Danielle as “a soldier for life,” and someone who knew what it meant to live in the moment. “In the four years she was sick, most people would not have known she was in any pain,” she of her sister who had organized a team, Unicorns for a Cure, to walk in events to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Additional survivors include lifetime partner John Paul, of Atlanta; father, Bill Rabel of Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and brother, Huitt Rabel of Jasper.
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