Cancer becomes personal for telethon volunteers

The theme for the Cancer Telethon is “People you know helping people you know,” and this year the people we know were the cancer volunteers themselves.

The telethon at Penn’s Peak this year raised $224,254 for research and services, an increase from the $220,589 raised in 2017.

It became personal this year with Bud Wychulis, entertainer Fred Douglas and tympani drummer Vicki Willman all diagnosed with cancer in the past year.

Telethon chairman Joe Krushinsky took each diagnosis personally, and then his father was diagnosed with lung cancer and died two weeks later on Palm Sunday.

In the interview area usually reserved for the Courage Award recipients, the four took some time to share their stories.

“We all think it will never be me, until it is,” Krushinsky said.

Willman, a longtime friend of Krushinsky’s from West Virginia, found the lump in her breast herself.

After a biopsy, the doctor called her with the test results, telling her, “I am sorry to tell you the news, but you have breast cancer.”

The news was a tumor in her right breast. The top of the left breast had carcinoma in the ducts just waiting to come out. She had a double mastectomy, followed by hormone therapy.

“I’m scared,” she said Saturday. “There is a possibility that I still have cancer in me.”

But thanks to the cancer society, she said, “If it does come back, there are treatments.”

She said members of the telethon family were incredibly supportive. One told her, “All these years helping out at ACS, you’ve been paying it forward.”

Willman said she benefited from the research advances made during her lifetime.

Fred Douglas

Longtime performer Fred Douglas was diagnosed and had surgery for esophageal cancer.

It started with a kidney stone. His family doctor sent him for a colonoscopy and endoscopy.

When the oncologist called with the diagnosis, he was shocked and said, “What do I do now?”

His wife works for a doctor, who arranged for a second opinion. The doctor came from Philadelphia to the Lehigh Valley and said he would do it robotically.

“How long will this take?” Douglas asked. “I have a telethon coming up.”

He was told it would be simple.

“Unless we run into complications. Then we’ll have to cut you.”

An 11-hour surgery was performed Jan. 19. He was taken to recovery at 11 p.m. and his wife was sent home.

But his blood pressure spiked to 250.

“They had to cut me.”

He was given multiple transfusions, but Douglas said, “I felt myself slipping away.

“I remember the doctor saying, is there anyone you want to call,” he said.

Douglas called his wife and said, “Hon, I love you. This may be it.”

She said, “You’re not going anywhere. You came in with me and you’re going home with me.”

Through the process, he said, “God showed me I’m not invincible.”

Gradually, his strength is returning and he was able to play his scheduled slot Sunday night.

Bud Wychulis

Wychulis, who has a type of leukemia, said, “Somehow in the back of my mind for years, God’s not going to give me cancer with all that we do here. I was wrong.”

His spleen enlarged and he had internal bleeding. In the hospital, doctors stopped the bleeding, and bone marrow tests revealed a rare form of leukemia.

He is taking two chemotherapy pills a day.

“There are no side effects. I could stay on this as much as three-four years before I need a bone-marrow transplant.”

The telethon is even more special for him this year.

“I couldn’t miss it,” he said, “I am so thankful for the work the American Cancer Society does.”

Krushinsky was in Graceland when he learned about his friend Bud’s situation.

“I called my dad and he shared my sense that this is just not right that people who work so hard on this stuff should face these situations. He cried when I told him.”

A few weeks ago, the elder Krushinsky had a scan because of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The scan showed spots on both lungs.

“It changed him in an instant,” Krushinsky said.

Joe Sr. overcame prostate cancer years ago.

“He’s from a generation, when you hear that word cancer, he didn’t have it in him to hear it another time.”

The cancer fight

Rather than being discouraged, Krushinsky is more dedicated than ever to the telethon.

“There is so much progress, so much is right about the way things are going. So much has been accomplished in the last 40 years. This is a strong reminder that we need to redouble our efforts.”

Cancer survivors felt the same way. Lina Lobach, Danelle Kane and Alexis Jones were honored with courage awards.

Lobach, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer, advised people, “Listen to your body. Don’t give up until you find out what’s wrong.”

Kane, a Tamaqua elementary teacher, was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a lumpectomy, she had radiation treatments. After losing her mom to cancer, she said she wanted to “work hard to survive this.”

A Tamaqua student, Jones has been fighting ovarian cancer. She has been making bracelets to raise money for cancer. “Never let the cancer get the best of you,” she said.

Throughout the weekend the story was the same with performers and volunteers: All are touched by cancer in some way.

Alyssa Tirpak of Lake Hauto recognizes the need for research. She works for a company that helps to make clinical trials happen.

“My grandmother Priscilla Smith was a courage award winner in the ’90s,” Tirpak said, “She passed before I was born.”

Smith had participated in a clinical trial. “That research helped lots of people,” she said.

Nancy Matyas of Weatherly volunteered to answer the phones in honor of her sister, sister-in-law and father who died of cancer.

“We want to find a cure and kick cancer’s butt.”

Many community organizations raised funds to do just that. Some of the funds raised included the American Cancer Auction, $26,000; Zoostock and related activities, $18,500; daffodil sales, $15,000; Tamaqua fire companies and the Notre Dame Club, $12,503; CCTI, $6,000; and Tamaqua minithon, $5,000.