In the City That Never Sleeps, a young Long Island boy sleeps with a smile on his face these days.
The boy, Danny Alini, 6, has had many fitful nights, many painful days, many moments when it was maddening to reconcile what was happening in his body.
But if you know Danny, you know what a remarkable kid he is, how tenacious a fighter he is, how he doesn’t despair.
That leukemia he was diagnosed with three years ago is losing this game.
And, every now and then, Danny’s dad, Tommy, and his family are reminded their battle with cancer is not one they are fighting alone.
Several months ago, Tommy sent an email to St. John’s coach Steve Lavin and told him about his son. Danny had become one of the Knicks’ most diehard fans. Tommy and his daughter, Vanessa, had attended a couple of St. John’s basketball games, and Alini knew Lavin is a cancer survivor.
Lavin texted back, stunning Alini, a corrections officer at Rikers Island who does not surprise easily. He thought it might be a joke, but Lavin texted back and asked Alini to call.
“All I was thinking was, ‘I wish somebody would do something for my son,’ ’’ Alini told The Post. “Make him feel like he’s part of something.’’
On Saturday, despite the fact that Lavin was preparing for a trip home to Northern California where the Red Storm will play at San Francisco tonight and Lavin will have a family reunion, he made Danny feel very much a part of the Red Storm.
After the Alinis sat behind the bench during the Red Storm’s 57-49 win over NJIT at Carnesecca Arena, Lavin brought them into the locker room, loaded them up with gift bags and let Danny shoot around in Taffner Fieldhouse.
“I’ve been a Jets season ticket holder for 20 years,’’ Tommy Alini said. “I wrote to the Jets, wrote to Rex Ryan, asking if Danny could just come on the field before the game? Never got a response.
“My dad had Yankees season tickets since I was 17. I wrote to them. Nothing. Look, I get it, these are busy people. But my kid needed something, I needed to do something for him. Lavin got right back me.’’
Lavin knows the terror, the uncertainty, that accompanies a cancer diagnosis. His father, Cappy, also a prostate cancer survivor who is expected at tonight’s game along with Lavin’s mother and several of his five brothers and sisters, has given him great insight into how the disease affects a family.
“It was an easy decision to extend a helping hand to a family, a young boy, that’s struggling with cancer,’’ Lavin said. “When I learned he was a sports fan and a St. John’s fan, it was a natural fit to have Danny come down and meet the team.’’
The Alinis’ lives were turned upside down in a second. One day more than three years ago, Danny was playing with cousins in his uncle’s pool. The next day, after his mother, Jaclyn, noticed an unusual cut on his foot, he was at Winthrop-University Hospital having blood drawn.
“It’s funny, when my son got sick, I had to start my whole life over,’’ Tommy Alini said. “Friends disappear, family, some of them get tired of this. You end up with new friends, friends you meet at the [cancer] center.’’
Friends whom you email and they respond.