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Cancer Survivors Celebration at Downs includes music, food, games and enjoyment of life

June 15, 2009

A hopeful message

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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PLAINS TWP. – “Beat the Odds!” was the theme at Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs on Sunday, but the message was aimed at survivors rather than gamblers.

The casino and racetrack was the venue for the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute’s 17th annual Cancer Survivors Celebration.

“This is a regional celebration, and this is a great regional venue,” said Kristin Klemish, community relations coordinator for the institute. The event had been staged at Montage Mountain in previous years.

“It was a free day for cancer survivors and their families and friends, just a time to celebrate life. I think everybody had a wonderful time and maybe met some fellow survivors who had gone through the same experience as them,” Klemish said.

Activities included signing or writing a short message on the Survivors Banner, painting on a mural, “Laughter Yoga,” sitting with a caricaturist, browsing educational resources, face painting and children’s games. There were guest speakers, live entertainment by Nittany Buffet and free refreshments.

State Sen. Raphael Musto and his wife, Frances, a three-time cancer survivor, were honorary chairpersons, and Monsignor Joseph Quinn was the keynote speaker.

Helen Champi, 75, of Duryea, said she attended the event “because I’m a survivor” of breast cancer. “I had all the treatments – radiation, chemo. I’m doing well.”

Champi’s sisters, Theresa Macauga and Irene Kosik, accompanied the four-year breast cancer survivor to the event.

“My daughter died of breast cancer. She was 35. So I came to support my sister,” Kosik said.

Tom Smith and his wife, Andrea, brought their 8-year-old son, Jacob, to support Tom’s mom, Amelia Frania, of Harveys Lake; Andrea’s mom, Gail Bartlett, of the Wapwallopen section of Conyngham Township; and Bartlett’s sister, Carrie Wray, of Berkley, W.Va.

All three women are breast cancer survivors for 11, 13 and 19 years, respectively.

Frania said her spirits were buoyed meeting other survivors who beat cancer. The survivors wore pins denoting the number of years they survived the disease.

“I’m 11 years, and then I see people with 20 years or 23 years and it’s encouraging. There’s hope out there for everybody,” Frania said.

Klemis said more than 1,000 people attended this year’s celebration.

TO LEARN MORE

Visit www.cancernepa.org for information on the Northeast Regional Cancer Institute, community resources and health care resources.

To see additional photos, visit www.times

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