MasonBuzz.com

Cathy Nadaud always hoped to one day meet the anonymous bone marrow donor who helped her beat back leukemia.

She didn’t know that chance would come Friday evening.

The Jewish Hospital arranged a surprise reunion for Nadaud with her Pittsburgh donor, Nina Cordelli, at the organization’s annual Partners in Hope Reunion in Mason.

Cathy Nadaud from Springdale reacts after meeting Nina Cordelli, a Pittsburgh nurse who donated bone marrow to Cathy. (Photo by Tony Tribble)

Fighting back tears, Cordelli told the audience of 350 how she joined the National Bone Marrow Donor registry in 2011 when she helped coordinate a drive while in nursing school.

“The statistic they gave me was that there was a less than one percent chance I would ever be matched with anybody who needed a transplant,” said Cordelli, now 23. “I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would have been (matched).”

The call came eight months later. Cordelli was a near perfect match for a 60-year-old Springdale grandmother and teacher with acute myeloid leukemia. A bone marrow transplant, she was told, was the woman’s only chance for survival.

“I felt there was just no possible way I could say no to this opportunity to potentially save someone else’s life,” said Cordelli.

As Cordelli spoke, Nadaud sat in the audience, slowing recognizing herself. By the time Cordelli finished, there was no need to call her forward by name — she knew she was the one.

For Nadaud, the emotional reunion marked the culmination of a battle that began in 2008 when she was first diagnosed with leukemia.

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Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: bone marrow, cancer, cathy nadaud, donor, jewish hospital, leukemia, manor house, mason, nina cordelli, partners in hope reunion, pittsburgh, reunion, springdale

Peter Kociba, 15, is renovating the Environmental Study area as a living memorial to assistant principal Dave Segrist, who died last year of cancer, as part of his Eagle Scout project. The Enquirer/Rachel Richardson

To complete the requirements for Eagle Scout, the highest rank a Boy Scout can achieve, many scouts tackle projects like clearing trails at a local park, organizing a food or blood drive or assisting a nonprofit organization.

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: boy scouts, cancer, dale moberly, dave segrist, eagle scout, environmental study area, mason, mason intermediate, peter kociba, team venture

The Dulle Family. Top: Abbie Dulle and Brian Dulle. Bottom: Jackson Dulle, Madelyn Dulle and Emma Dulle. provided photo

Paul McKibben reports:

The Warren County Fraternal Order of Police lodge gave $1,000 on March 13 to the Brian Dulle Memorial Scholarship fund. Dulle’s parents accepted the donation.

The lodge also gave $1,000 to Maddie’s Hope, a nonprofit organization established in honor of Sgt. Brian Dulle’s daughter Madelyn Dulle. Maddie was diagnosed in October 2003 with a rare form of childhood cancer called pleural pulmonary blastoma.

Brian Dulle, a Warren County sheriff’s deputy, died in May 2011 in Turtlecreek Township after being struck by a fleeing motorist. He was the first Warren County sheriff’s deputy killed in the line of duty.

Survivors of Dulle, 36, include his wife Abbie and children Madelyn, Emma and Jackson.

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: abbie dulle, abby dully, Brian Dulle, brian dulle memorial scholarship fund, cancer, dulle family, fallen deputy, fop, maddie's hope, madelyn dulle, warren county fraternal order of police, warren county sheriffs

Paul McKibben reports:

One doctor told Patty Kinch to enjoy her cancer-stricken infant son B.J. “while we had him.” Another told the family that he knew children with B.J’s tumor who attended college and had led good lives.

“We decided that this one’s going to college,” said Kinch, 53, of Hamilton. “And he’s going to have a good life, and he’s going to have a family or whatever he wants to do.”

Doctors diagnosed the Hamilton eighth-grader the day after Christmas in 1998 with a cancerous tumor in his brain stem when he was 5 months old. Since then, he’s had seven operations and has been in and out of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

He’s also been blind since he was 6 months old.

To make life even more challenging, B.J’s father, Dale Kinch, died of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in March 2007 at 51 years old.

Dale’s passing left Patty Kinch a widow with four children. Three of the children live with Patty in their middle-class Hamilton home, and her toddler grandson lives with them, too. The oldest lives in Dayton. Patty works at Sears in Tri-County.

To help the Kinches, Deerfield United Methodist Church in Warren County will give all proceeds from its 26th annual dessert auction Sunday to the family.

B.J., 14, said having cancer his entire life is “hard.’’ He said some of the treatment has been harsh and unforgiving. He’s experienced ambulance trips and occasional hair loss but now has a full head of dark hair.

“I have good days and I have bad days. … It’s hard but somehow me and my mommy here get through it,” he said, giving Patty a hug.

Despite cancer, B.J hasn’t missed a grade. He attends Wilson Middle School in Hamilton, where he earns straight As and is on the honor roll. B.J. wants to attend college and possibly become a software engineer. He’s thought about going to Miami or Wright State universities.

B.J. will start another round of chemotherapy in about a week. Patty said the hope is to stabilize B.J’s tumor so it quits growing. But the tumor is considered to be terminal. She said B.J’s attitude keeps him going.

“He’s kind of a miracle,” she said. “He really shouldn’t be around still. … He’s just a big-time miracle for us.”
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Posted in: Community, Deerfield Twp., News |

Tags: Tags: b.j. kinch, cancer, deerfield united methodist church, dessert auction, patty kinch, steve south

Dragonfly Foundation co-founders Ria Davidson, right, and Christine Neitzke in their new space in Symmes Township.  (Photo by Tony Tribble)

Smiles and laughter are in short supply in pediatric oncology units.

But at The Landing – the new home of the Dragonfly Foundation – giggles and good feelings abound.

The Mason-based nonprofit organization, which provides comfort and care to children and young adults with cancer and blood diseases, recently celebrated a move into new and expanded office space at 9275 Governor’s Way in nearby Symmes Township.

The new 6,000-square-foot-space – formerly Keep it Tight Fitness – is a step up from the organization’s 1,200-square-foot office in the Voice of America Shopping Centre in West Chester.

The expansion allows the organization to offer a lounge room for teens and young adults, a stage for music and entertainment events, conference and library areas, increased storage for care-package items and a gathering place for patients and their families.

• Photos: The Landing
• Meet the Dragonfly girls

The lease was made possible, thanks to a donation by Mark and Melissa Matson of Mason. Mark Matson is the CEO of Matson Money, a financial investment and advisory firm. Organizers furnished the space, which already featured upscale finishes like marble counter tops and hand-blown glass bowls, with donations.

“People are going to flip,” said organization co-founder Ria Davidson. “Everything is high-end. No words can describe the space, but spectacular comes pretty darn close.”

Davidson and Christine Neitzke, both Mason residents and public relations professionals, founded the organization two years ago after Nietzke’s son Matt was diagnosed with cancer. Matt, now 13, is in remission, but the goal of bringing comfort and joy to children “living with and perhaps dying of cancer” continues.

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Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: cancer, children, christine neitzke, cincinnati children's hospital medical center, i'm still me, mark matson, marty brennaman, mason, matson money, office, reds, ria davidson, symmes township, the dragonfly foundation, the landing

Kim Antrican with her husband, Todd, and children Stephanie and Seth outside of their Lebanon home. / The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

Paul McKibben reports:

Kim Antrican worked 23 hours on Election Day while battling breast cancer. The next day, she had another chemotherapy treatment.

Antrican, director of the Warren County Board of Elections, credits a lot of adrenaline for enabling her to work such a taxing day.

“Every day on the way to work, I would pray ‘God give me strength for today. Give me the strength to get through the day’ because I knew that I had to pull from my strength somewhere,” she said.

Antrican, 44, of Lebanon, underwent a double mastectomy in August after feeling a lump in her chest the previous month. She began chemotherapy on Sept. 25, one week before early voting started.

She worked 74 hours during election week and the week prior to that. She put in a 61-hour week two weeks before Election Day.

With the election behind her, she’s working less (40-hour weeks) and not spending her weekends at the office. She’s married with two teenagers.

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Posted in: Election, News, Warren County |

Tags: Tags: breast cancer, cancer, director, election, election day, kim antrican, lebanon, warren county board of elections

Kim Antrican, director of the Warren County Board of Elections, sits inside of the voting area at the Lebanon office. The director was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer at the end of July and is now undergoing treatment during the busy election season.  The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

Paul McKibben reports:

Kim Antrican already had enough pressure.

Mother of two teens. Wife. Director of the Warren County board of elections during a presidential election year in the battleground state of Ohio.

Then in July, Antrican felt a lump in her chest while in Florida for training. She learned she had aggressive breast cancer and in August underwent a double mastectomy. She started chemotherapy Sept. 25, a week before early voting began.

“This could not have happened at a more inconvenient time if you’re looking at it by the election time frame,” she said. “(But) it is what it is, and God will take care of the big things that are out of my control.”

Antrican returned to work full-time 13 days after her Aug. 14 surgery. She works 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week and has logged two 12-hour Saturdays since she returned to work.

Working has helped balance a life that was filled with medical appointments.

“One or two days out of my week, I’m off having a test done … or I’m off seeing a doctor,” she said.

“So here was my only normal.”

The election calender is getting busier as the big day draws near. Antrican’s cancer treatment continues, too.

She’ll undergo chemotherapy for the next year, going every three weeks. Radiation treatment – five days a week for five weeks – will start in January or February.

Antrican, 44, of Lebanon delayed starting chemotherapy for a week because of work. She was scheduled to have a chemotherapy session on Election Day.

But that is postponed until the following day. She plans to work every day that she can because elections are “in my blood.”

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Posted in: Community, News, Warren County |

Tags: Tags: breast cancer, brian sleeth, cancer, chemotherapy, director, election, election 2012, faith, kim antrican, lebanon, mastectomy, ohio, republican, todd antrican, warren county, warren county board of elections

Tim Minds gets his head shaved by Abby Clutter of Roosters Men’s Grooming Center during the St. Baldrick’s Foundation head-shaving event. / The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

Paul McKibben reports:

Twenty-one years ago, as a teenager, Chris Jennings battled cancer. On Sunday afternoon he participated in a fundraiser to give other young people the chance that they too might some day beat the disease.

Jennings was one of 56 people who had their heads shaved at Claddagh Irish Pub in the Deerfield Towne Center during a fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, a California-based charity that benefits research into childhood cancer. Sunday’s event raised $3,500.

Jennings, 38, who works at Claddagh, suffered from Hodgkin’s disease when he was 17. He was bald during his senior year at a Texas high school, where he was allowed to wear a baseball hat.

He’s been cancer-free for two decades. He said having cancer as a teen was “pretty traumatic. But you realize what’s important in life and who you value in your life…. You realize you’re not going to live forever.”

Participant Lorie Orth, 42, of Lebanon doesn’t have cancer but instead is fighting another disease that’s associated with losing hair – alopecia. The immune system of people who have alopecia areata attacks hair follicles and a person loses their hair. Orth was diagnosed four months ago, and then her hair started falling out in patches.

“So I started shaving it, and then an event like this comes up and I understand the complications that come around physically and mentally with losing your hair,” she said “And I know it’s hard for women in general to lose their hair, but for children especially, I’m sure they have a very hard time psychologically.”

Bill Wilder, 42, of West Chester Township had his head shaved Sunday at Claddagh. He has psoriasis and shaves his head about three times a year. He said head shaving is actually good for the skin condition from which he suffers. After getting his head shaved, he had orange and black stripes painted on part of his skull.

“If I can raise money … and I have to do it anyway, I might as well,” he said.

Roosters Men’s Grooming Center did the hair cutting during the event. Dub Nelson, who owns the company’s locations in Cincinnati and Dayton, said Roosters’ stores across the country have helped St. Baldrick’s.

Cormac Cushen, a manager with Claddagh, said pubs traditionally host fundraisers back in Ireland. He’s from Dublin, Ireland.

“So, why not have it in America too?”

Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: bill wilder, cancer, charity, chris jennings, claddagh irish pub, cormac cushen, deerfield towne center, deerfield township, dub nelson, lorie orth, roosters men's grooming center, shave heads, st. baldrick's foundation, tim minds

Cliff Radel reports:

Everybody knows the guy who got his head shaved at Great American Ball Park. He’s Marty Brennaman, the Hall of Famer and Reds broadcaster.

But, who were those four little girls on the field that night?

Gracie Tapp, 5, of West Chester, was diagnosed in January 2012 with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.
The Enquirer/ Amanda Davidson

Abby Dedic, Madison Owens, Riley Slattery and Gracie Tapp.

Those little beauties, ages two to five, share a special bond. Each one dreams of being a princess. Each one is already a mighty warrior. Each one is battling cancer.

• Photos: Meet the Dragonfly girls
• Photos: Marty Brennaman gets a haircut

That disease strikes without warning or compassion. Cancer always seems to attack on a special day, a birthday, a holiday, a weekend. But then, when you are fighting this form of evil, whether you are four or 40, eight or 80, every day is special.

Three of those four little girls have no hair. Abby, Madison and Gracie lost it to chemo. They were the ones who ran up to Brennaman as if he were Santa and received hugs and kisses on their bald heads from him after he spoke to the crowd.

Riley, curls touching her shoulders, slept through much of the Aug. 3 event. She missed Brennaman showing he was a man of his word as well as a man of the moment.

Earlier in the season he privately vowed to Reds coach Chris Speier that he would shave his head if the home team won 10 games in a row.

“I opened my mouth and put my foot in it,” Brennaman said, “which I am capable of doing on a daily basis.”

When the Reds’ winning streak reached 10, Brennaman upped the ante. He said he would have his head shaved in public if $20,000 in donations went to the Reds’ Community Fund charity. Donations eventually reached $100,000. And Brennaman wound up touching hearts with his shaved head.

That night, he wore a personalized Reds jersey. Under the uniform top, he wore a blue and yellow T-shirt from the then little-known Dragonfly Foundation, a Mason-based non-profit currently helping 215 Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center patients with cancer and blood diseases. The four little girls, each one a Dragonfly aided by the foundation, wore blue and yellow T-shirts, too.

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Posted in: Community, News |

Tags: Tags: abby dedic, baseball, broadcaster, cancer, children, cincinnati children's hospital and medical center, cincinnati reds, dragonflies, dragonfly foundation, gracie tapp, great american ballpark, madison owens, marty brennaman, mason, ria davidson, riley slattery, shaved head

Janice Morse reports:

An appeals court is considering whether a detective’s alleged pattern of lying tainted the entire case against Ryan Widmer, a Warren County man convicted of murder in the 2008 bathtub drowning of his wife, Sarah.

The Ohio 12th District Court of Appeals on Tuesday heard arguments on the second of two appeals that Widmer is pursuing as he attempts to get his 2011 conviction overturned. That conviction came during Widmer’s third trial, following two controversial mistrials. He’s serving 15 years to life in prison.

Tuesday’s arguments focused on allegations that authorities improperly withheld information calling into question the credibility of the lead investigator on the case, Jeff Braley, who resigned from the Hamilton Township Police Department last year after an independent investigator said the township had reason to question his honesty.

• Read Widmer’s appeal

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An assistant prosecutor and Widmer’s appellate attorney each had 15 minutes to argue their points in court.

Michele Berry,Widmer’s lawyer, told the appeals judges that Warren County Common Pleas Judge Neal Bronson “really went astray” when he characterized Braley as a minor trial witness . Regardless of Braley’s testimony during the trial, his role affected the entire course of the investigation, Berry asserts, and his alleged “pattern of lying,” dating to 1997, is reason to doubt the integrity of the investigation.

Bronson barred Widmer’s lawyers from grilling Braley about his credibility, including documents asserting he held a master’s degree from two colleges that say he never attended. Berry asserts that authorities knew about these alleged falsehoods and others but withheld that information from Widmer’s lawyers.

Armed with that information, Widmer’s lawyers would have been able to pursue a different trial strategy, Berry said; they would have argued that the case, from its premise, was tainted because of Braley’s involvement. Even before Braley declared the Widmer home a crime scene, Braley had given the county coroner information that he relied upon to declare Sarah Widmer’s death a homicide, Berry said.

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Posted in: Crime, News, Widmer Trial |

Tags: Tags: cancer, dead, dies, judge, middletown, mike allen, ohio 12th district court of appeals, rachel hutzel, ryan widmer, sarah widmer, warren county, warren county prosecutor