ECFvoiceTHE NEWSLETTER OF THE EMMANUEL CANCER FOUNDATION

Briana talks more like a seasoned life coachthan the 16-year-old Sussex county girl she is.

“You will get through this. You will survive,” Briana toldherself when she was struggling with her cancerdiagnosis. “Life won’t give you something you can nevertake.” This wisdom has helped her through her ordeal,along with her family, parents and five older siblings.

Briana was diagnosed with Stage 3 HodgkinsLymphoma when she was 12. Almost three years to theday, when she was 15, Briana found out she hadrelapsed, but this time it was Stage 4B. Her treatmentregimen was difficult, changing frequently frominpatient to outpatient chemotherapy, and then a stemcell transplant which required isolation for 45 days.Briana said that was the hardest. She missed over 110days of school, which is no fun for someone who enjoysschool. “I love my school events, the teachers, the structure,and learning,” she says.

The Emmanuel Cancer Foundation provided Briana andher family with emotional support through in personvisits from their caseworker Caitlin. To alleviate some oftheir financial stress, we also delivered monthlygroceries, helped pay to fill their oil tank last winter, andassisted with car payments. “I was happy [ECF was] therefor my family through this terrible time,” said Briana. “It’scomforting to know that if I ever need anything or to talk,someone is always there.”

Briana tries to feel as “normal” as possible. “You thinkthat when you get [well] you’ll finally be like everyone elseagain, but you get hit with the realization that you aren’t andyou might never be again, and you can’t ever go back to whoyou were before the cancer.” But Briana stays positive andfocuses on her many interests. She loves photography,reading, writing, any kind of music, and is “very crafty.”Her favorite movie is The Breakfast Club, which she hasseen 200 times! Briana volunteers as much as she canand aspires to study either law or psychology. “I justwant to help people,” she says.

Briana’s self-reflection and thoughtfulness about herexperiences with cancer are truly inspirational. “When itstarts to set in what’s going on and when treatment is rough,you will love to imagine yourself being in a different place,”says Briana. “You will want to change things and arrange itlike your own puzzle. Easily solved and built in just onesecond. Things will be hard and the waves will be stronger.

You’ll wish that you don’t have to face it. You’ll try to turnaround and run away. But you’ll realize that you cannotescape this, that for you to get through it, you’ll need to liftyourself just to fight it. And when that day comes, you’ll haveall the courage you’ve been hiding in your heart. You’ll findout how brave you are. You’ll know that you are capable of more.”

FALL 2018

BRIANA: Wise Beyond Her Years

I had such an amazinggroup of friends that werethere for me, but my familyis the biggest thing thatmade this better. They arethe reason behind mycourage and strength.

r e f l e c t i o n sF R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

“You gain strength, courage, and confidenceby every experience inwhich you really stop tolook fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

– ELEANOR ROOSEVELT

Ten-year-old Jizaiah hasbeen through more healthchallenges and ups anddowns than most adults.

The second youngest in a large, close-knit household, he was diagnosedwith acute lymphoblastic leukemia in2013, when he was five. His mom isthe central caregiver, taking care ofboth her younger children and sixgrandchildren. Jizaiah’s dad has hisown health problems stemming froma work injury two years ago thatrequired surgery and a recoverycomplicated by his diabetes. Afterreceiving disability for a year, his dadwas denied Workers Comp, despite notbeing able to resume his prior work. The family’s finances, alreadystretched by the cancer diagnosis, became severely strained, thoughJizaiah’s dad is currently in a training program for a new trade.

To help the family through this difficult time, ECF has not only providedsupportive counseling and financial assistance to pay their rent, but alsomonthly groceries, gift cards for special items, and holiday and birthdaygifts for Jizaiah and his young brothers and sisters. We also donatedbackpacks and school supplies, and funds to purchase school uniforms, so that Jizaiah and his two youngest siblings would be well prepared forthis school year.

Unfortunately, Jizaiah was not able to return to school this September,as he needs to fully recover from the many recent health scares andcomplications he has had to endure. While he responded well tochemotherapy when he was first diagnosed, in 2016 the leukemiareturned, necessitating a bone marrow transplant. One of Jizaiah’s olderbrothers was a match to be the donor. The first few months post-transplant were difficult, with Jizaiah having significant side effects,forcing the young boy to spend a long time recovering in the hospital. One of his parents always stayed by his side.

GROWING UP, I always thought wewould learn how to be brave once webecame adults. And that as grown-

ups we would know how to handle thechallenges that life would surely throw ourway. But working at ECF has shown meotherwise. I have come to learn that thechildren we help, so young and new to theworld, are truly the fearless, wise ones. Theymanage the cruel hand they have been dealtwith astounding courage and dignity, fightingfiercely and loving greatly. They face theirmortality head on, and they accept thetreatments they have to endure, and moreoften than not they do it with a smile. Theyhave shown me what bravery truly looks like.

JOANN PASSANTINO

JIZAIAH’S JOURNEY

JIZAIAH WITH HIS FAVORITE WRESTLER

As months passed, Jizaiah felt better and was finally able to return home in the spring of 2017. He went back to doing many of hisnormal kid activities, including enjoying a family trip to Florida that summer. Jizaiah returned to school in September and planswere underway to remove his feeding tube & port. ECF arranged for Jizaiah and his parents and a sibling to see “Annie” at thePapermill Playhouse in December.

However, in January 2018, Jizaiah relapsed a second time. He was re-admitted to the hospital for a new and cutting edge therapy,Car-T cell, with the goal of hopefully getting his immune system to fight the cancer. Jizaiah is one of the first pediatric patients in NJto receive this treatment. He spent several months in the hospital, his mother again staying with him, recovering from the treatmentas well as troublesome kidney and gastric issues that needed to be overcome before he was finally able to return home. Just oneweek after leaving the hospital, Jizaiah’s lung collapsed and he was readmitted. Two bouts of pneumonia caused him to remain inthe hospital for most of the summer. When he returned in August, he still needed round the clock oxygen and a feeding tube.

Currently, Jizaiah is recovering at home and will be homeschooled for the rest of the year. Fortunately, his bone marrow hasresponded well to the new treatment, and there are no signs of leukemia. He is now being slowly weaned off his feeding tube, and aPulmonary Specialist will monitor him closely and eventually get him off oxygen. Jizaiah is happy to be home watching his favoritewrestlers and likes his homeschool teacher. Both Jizaiah and his parents have remained amazingly positive despite their harrowingexperiences.

ECF IS GRATEFUL TO THE FOLLOWINGFOUNDATIONS AND CORPORATIONS THAT

PROVIDED RECENT GRANT SUPPORT:Builders General Supply CompanyCDWIndependent Order of Odd Fellows of NJJersey Mikes SubsJoseph Lapinski FoundationPlymouth Rock Management CompanyUnited Way of Gloucester CountyWestfield Service LeagueWhole Foods Market

THANK YOU!!

volunteer SPOTLIGHTJACK POILLON“Volunteers don’t necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”

ECF volunteer Jack Poilloncomes from a family that believesin helping others and givingback. His mom, Janet, and dad,Pete, have been volunteering forECF Senior Regional DirectorBarbara Kopel for over 15 yearsdoing anything ECF needs,including delivering food to families. His sister Mary alsovolunteered for ECF all through high school, and other sisterEmma has participated with the family in ECF’s Tricky Trayfundraiser.

Raised in Scotch Plains, Jack just graduated from the Collegeof William and Mary with a degree in economics and isplanning to get a Masters in accounting from Rutgers. He hasbeen volunteering for ECF since he was a freshman in highschool and throughout college during summer breaks, doingeverything from filing to making posters and flyers forevents to researching event locations. “I generally just help outwith whatever Barbara needs,” Jack says. His motivation tovolunteer was a desire to help on the local level and hisexperience with family friends diagnosed with cancer andhow devastating it can be. “These two factors made my decisionto volunteer at ECF an easy one, and one that I find fulfilling,”says Jack. Aside from helping others, Jack loves playingbasketball, softball and video games. Barbara says, “anyquestions I have about sports, Jack is my go to person.” She washappy to have Jack pitching in over this past summer. “He isa great volunteer,” she says. “He has such a bright future ahead of him.”

THE LIONS CLUB“Volunteers are not paid—not because they are worthless, but because they are priceless.”

The Emmanuel Cancer Foundation loves the Lions Club.For many years, they have been helping ECF across NewJersey. In our Southern Region, the local Lions Club chose ECFas its District Service Project for 2018-2019. The shelves of thefood pantry there are now fully stocked thanks to the LionsClub. We spoke with Lion Jack Romano (Lions Club StateAdvisor, Multiple District 16, 2018-2019) about the Club’sinvolvement.

Q. How did you and the Lions Club get involved with helping ECF?

A. The Midland Park Lions Club has been activelysupporting the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation for manyyears, both financially and stocking the food pantry. TheECF Northern Office and our club meeting place areneighbors! Over the years we have had ECF staff addressour club at regular meetings. ECF Executive Director JoannPassantino recently spoke at a meeting, and the Lions wereso impressed with the work ECF continues to do that otherdistricts and clubs have scheduled speakers from ECF too.In fact, at the recent District 16-L Reorganization meeting,Lion Terry DeSantis spoke and collected food to restockthe food bank for the Southern office, launching ourinvolvement there. (Shown in photo below.)

Q. How has this involvementaffected you and other members?

A. You do not realize how adisease such as cancer can affectnot only a child, which isdevastating enough, but alsotheir families who are trying tocope with the disease, theirchild’s welfare, dealing withinsurance companies, hospitals,doctor’s offices and the like. We

never realize or think that cancer can strike anyone at anyage. Lions International recently added childhood canceras one of its five core issues (in addition to vision, hunger,diabetes awareness and environmental concerns). Withthis, and the work ECF has done and continues to do, thiswas a perfect match for both groups. Not many Lionswere aware that ECF even existed. Both our groups havesomething in common-- we are the best kept secrets inNew Jersey but are very effective on what we both do forour communities.

CONTACT US908.322.4323

info@emmanuelcancer.org

www.emmanuelcancer.org

67 Walnut Ave., Ste. 107Clark, NJ 07066

facebook.com/EmmanuelCancerFoundation

ECF Newsletter created in collaboration with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of New Jersey – proud partners in support of kids with cancer. www.ioof.org

in memory of A DEDICATED VOLUNTEER

“This is what Jack andhis mom Erin wroteon a card to ECF and isthe kind of messagethat inspires us towork hard every dayon behalf of familieslike theirs. Jack wasdiagnosed with lymphoma in April when he was 6 yearsold. He endured a whirlwind of chemo treatments whichdidn’t end until right before his 7th birthday in August.Fortunately, his most recent scans showed no evidence ofcancer, and he is feeling much more like himself! Thefamily’s ECF Caseworker Kelly Dyckman started meetingwith Jack for supportive and play therapy in July. Hisparents were hoping to have someone with whom Jackcould express his feelings in relation to having cancer,along with day to day stressors. Kelly said Jack’s parentswere also “in total awe” of the birthday basket sent by ECFand have been so appreciative of our support. Kelly added,“Jack is an absolute riot. He keeps me on my toes and expresseshimself through play and storytelling. He loves cars and theTitanic. His memory for detail is incredible, and I wish I had his energy!”

JACK’S STORY

Thank you for being there in our darkestdays.”

Bob Peneno, a good friend, supporter and volunteer at ECF, passed away onAugust 26th, 2018. Bob helped out at the Northern Regional Center of ECF forover 10 years, mostly answering phones.

Bob’s career began at his father’s printing company. Later as a soldier in the VietNam war, his skills were used as a map maker. His night time work became thedaytime maps for the reconnaissance and bombing missions of the Air Force.

His true career was as a teacher at the Passaic County Technical Institute, wherehe taught for 35 years. He sparked up his off hours by racing stock cars. Bob andhis wife Joyce enjoyed their four grandchildren and liked to travel and sprinklein a cruise every year.

Written by Kay O’ Connel, fellow long-time ECF volunteer in the Northern Regional Office.

YOGA, WINE ANDCHOCOLATENovember 9, 2018

ECF FAMILY HOLIDAY PARTY December 2, 2018

HOLIDAY BOUTIQUE December 4, 2018

ANNUAL CRYSTAL GALA February 9, 2019

BASH AT THE BRICKHOUSE March 15, 2019

DESIGNER HANDBAG BINGO& 5TH ANNUAL TRICKY TRAY April 27, 2019

SPRING TEA April 28, 2019

upcoming EVENTS

BOB (SEATED ON FAR RIGHT) AT THE RECENT ECFNORTHERN REGION VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION LUNCH

All of us at ECF will miss Bob and his industrious contribution to our mission.