The battle with cancer; survivors will be honored during telethon

The Tamaqua-Carbon American Cancer Society will hand out its annual “Courage Awards” Sunday night during its telethon at Penn’s Peak in Jim Thorpe. Recipients are Lina Lobach, formerly of Palmerton, Danell Kane and Alexis Jones of Tamaqua.

The telethon runs from noon to midnight Saturday and Sunday.

Award presentations will begin at 7:25 p.m. on Sunday. Blue Ridge Cable TV 13, Channel 90 in the Tamaqua-Mahanoy City Service Electric Cable area, and Channels 2 and 50 in the Lehigh Valley on the Service Electric Cable system are televising the event.

Danelle Kane

Like many Courage Award recipients, Kane, a Tamaqua Elementary School teacher, felt unworthy upon first hearing of the honor.

“I’m very honored, but my first thought was of all the people who had a more difficult battle than I did,” Kane said. “To be there with Alexis is an honor for me. She fights so valiantly every day for survival, and I’m just in awe of her. The way I explain the comparison of our cancers to people is its like I had the common cold, whereas she had the flu.”

Cancer runs in Kane’s family. Her mother died 10 years ago after a battle with breast cancer and her brother, Joe Ligenza, a past Courage Award recipient, was also diagnosed with the disease.

After her annual mammogram in July came back clean, Kane found a tumor during a self breast exam. A biopsy revealed tumors in both breasts with the left coming back benign and the right malignant.

“I had genetic testing done and the BRCA gene, which is the cancer gene, showed a variance of uncertain significance, which essentially meant it was inconclusive,” Kane said.

Kane’s surgery was in September, followed by radiation treatments through the fall.

She credits her husband for being her rock and her three friends, Kara Humes, Johanna Ulicny and Linda Vecolitis, who she refers to as her sisters.

“They had a meal at the house every day for my family while I was going through radiation treatments,” Kane said. “I’ve had a wonderful support system.”

Given her family’s history with cancer, she described her journey as more emotional than physical.

“I encourage everyone to stay proactive, especially with a family history,” she said. “Early detection saved me. If I didn’t do that self breast exam, I don’t know how things would have played out.”

Alexis Jones

“I’m very excited and honored,” Jones said of receiving a Courage Award. “It really came as a shock to me. I consider it a gift from God.”

The 12-year-old Tamaqua girl was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September.

A sixth-grade student at Tamaqua Area Middle School, Alexis had an 11-inch mass that was removed, as well as the ovary, part of the bowel and the small intestine.

Since then, Alexis has been through three rounds of chemotherapy, finishing up her last session on Christmas Day.

After Alexis finished up her last session, her parents, Bill and Janet Jones, were notified that the chemotherapy did not work and that Alexis needed an MRI, because the cancer had possibly not gone away in the other ovary.

The fallopian tube was removed during surgery, and the right ovary was seen to be enlarged during surgery. Samples were taken and it was found to have cancer cells.

The chemotherapy reduced the size of that ovary from 8 centimeters to 5.1 cm.

“I finished up chemotherapy and while I still have lots of testing, I’m in a good spot right now,” she said.

Jones will be receiving the award in the same year with her close friend and Tamaqua teacher, Danielle Kane.

Having the opportunity to bounce questions off Kane as they both underwent treatment has been a blessing for Jones.

“She’s really been my idol,” Jones said of Kane. “Going through cancer and the treatments, it can be very confusing. I have really leaned on Mrs. Kane and reached out to her and she’s been a great support system.”

In turn, Jones hopes to be a role model for others who have received a cancer diagnosis. Her advice is simple, “stay strong.”

“God will get you through it and you’ll become a survivor,” she said.

Lina Lobach

Lobach’s bladder had plagued her for longer than she cared to remember. It’s why she thought her issues in 2016 were nothing more than a urinary tract infection.

After a trip to the emergency room on July 4 and an ultrasound the next day, a radiologist delivered the news.

“I believe you have bladder cancer,” he told her.

On Aug. 1, 2016, Lobach, formerly of Palmerton, was diagnosed with stage 2/3T bladder cancer.

“I immediately zoned out,” Lobach said of the moment she received the news. “I couldn’t tell you what I was feeling or doing. All I saw was black.”

Fortunately, the cancer had not spread, and she had started preventive chemotherapy within two weeks.

Ever the hard worker, many of Lobach’s trips to chemotherapy were made with her laptop in tow.

“I kept working throughout the treatments because I felt like if I gave up, it would make me weak at home and I didn’t want my family to see me like that,” Lobach said. “The number one piece of advice I would give however is to lean on your support system and accept help. I started out very stubborn wanting to prove I was strong. Take help and also be there for someone else who needs it. I sat many days in the cancer center and shared my experiences. Some people were getting chemotherapy for the first time, and they were scared.”

During a 14-hour surgery at Fox Chase Cancer Center, doctors removed Lobach’s bladder and used part of her colon and intestines to create an “Indiana Bag,” an internal storage for urine used as a type of urinary diversion.

Lobach recently finished a successful immunotherapy trial, which changes the makeup of the immune system to help detect cancerous cells before they get out of control.

“The research into cancer treatment right now is top notch and its one of the key reasons to support organizations like the American Cancer Society,” Lobach said. “Good things are happening and I won’t accept that there will not be a cure for cancer. I truly believe we will get there.”