Survivor Series

In January of 2019, Esther Lewis, then 39, found a small lump in her breast. Having dealt with swollen lymph nodes before, she thought this lump was most likely that. But being cautious and proactive, Lewis sought confirmation that would end up...

Steve “Beaver” Lopez has never been one to let obstacles slow him down. It’s how, at age two, he got his nickname.  “I used to chew on my baby crib,” he explained. “I ate one of the wooden bars so my parents gave me the name...

A bell’s ring is a short sound, but resonates through time. It can be symbolic of the end of something, but also the beginning of something else.  A little more than a year ago, Joe Blandford, a Lowell resident and small business...

Jill Zilz, a math teacher at Lake Central High School, never thought that she would call herself a cancer survivor, but finds herself feeling proud to be where she is today. She taught math at Valparaiso High School for 14 years before finding her...

“If it weren’t for my grandson getting me sick I wouldn’t be here today,” said Jerry Swearington, who is celebrating three years of being cancer-free. Swearington had caught a cold from his oldest grandson, Corbin, while babysitting his...

Verne Schrader, a Chesterton native, wasn’t going to let cancer to stop him. At 95, he looks back on his journey through cancer as just another page in his storied life. It was the day before Thanksgiving when Schrader, then in his 70s, received...

When Brandy Manville first heard that she had cancer, she froze in stunned silence. She sat next to her husband at the doctor’s office, expecting to hear she tested negative. The two even had plans to go out to dinner to celebrate being told she...

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”. The words of the serenity prayer have guided countless individuals through some of the toughest times...

After months of dealing with constant hip pains, fevers and dramatic weight-loss, at 22-years old, Phil Zielke was told he had stage 4 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “It was very scary to hear those words attached to your name, and it affected me and my...

“I had just ran my first Chicago Marathon on October 12, 2009 and I was feeling pretty good about myself for that accomplishment,” Amanda Lyons recalled. Right after running the Chicago Marathon back in October 2009 and turning 38 years old,...