Community Stories
Merrill Lynch Jones Wealth Management Team Backs Panerathon
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Sid Jones, managing director of Merrill Lynch Jones Wealth Management, talks about the significance of community involvement and support for the annual Panerathon. Jones emphasized the importance of giving back to the community and highlighted the impact of the event in supporting the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast
SERVPRO Team Dobson Champions Panerathon Cause
WARREN, Ohio – Andrew Dobson, owner of SERVPRO Team Dobson, and Katie Dobson, co-owner, say their continued sponsorship of the annual Panerathon is rooted in a shared commitment to community and cause. Originally drawn to the event by its support of breast cancer awareness and survivors, the Dobsons describe their
Leiden Company Champions Panerathon for 16th Year
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Melissa Hale, owner and president of Leiden Company, discusses the company’s long-standing involvement with the Panerathon. Leiden has supported the Panerathon since its inception in 2009, a relationship that began through the company’s work with Covelli Enterprises, a longtime client. Hale, a runner herself, noted that her
Community Support Drives Panerathon Growth
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Danielle Covelli, marketing director for Covelli Enterprises, discusses the origins and growth of the annual Panerathon. The event, launched in 2010 in partnership with Mercy Health, supports the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, which aims to bring high-quality breast cancer care to the Mahoning Valley. What
‘Stronger Together’ Shines in 2025 Panerathon Bottle
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Nicole Gailey, senior director of R&D and Innovation PMO at Trivium Packaging, and Ryan Cene, president of On Us, discuss their continued collaboration with the annual Panerathon. For three consecutive years, Trivium has designed and produced a commemorative aluminum water bottle for Panerathon participants. Gailey said the
Panerathon Fuels Joanie Abdu Center Growth
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Juli Dulay, manager of the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, discusses the center’s role in providing comprehensive breast care services to women in the Mahoning Valley. Dulay highlights the long-standing support from Panerathon, which helped fund the center before its 2011 opening and continues to support
Nurses Breathe Life into Community Event
In late August 2014, Mary Shortreed and Amy Weaver, both professors in the nursing department at Youngstown State University, participated in the Panerathon 10K/2 Mile Walk/Run for the very first time. They looked around them that day in amazement at the overwhelming number of people gathered in support of the
Do what has to be done.
It was a tragic event in his own life that allowed Dr. Rashid Abdu, who treated people for decades, to see what his patients were going through.
In 1993, Dr. Abdu’s wife, Joanie, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The Panerathon Effect
How one community initiative supports another Panerathon has been the region’s largest community fundraising walk/run for 10 years. It’s Covelli Enterprises’ largest undertaking, hosting 12,000 participants annually and raising more than $2.5 million for the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center in Youngstown, Ohio. Pulling together an event of this
Cancer is like walking through a fog
For Krissie Moore, her journey through breast cancer was a the “deepest, darkest foggy day” for a year and a half.
“I was walking through that fog [not knowing] what was in front of me,” she said. “I knew someday there’d be a rainbow at the end.”
Breasts are part of a woman’s identity
Goldie Tillman said she is fighting breast cancer for her three children because she wants to make sure she sees them grow up, graduate and start their own lives.
“I don’t want what I’m going through right now to have their minds not really on ‘kid things’ because you only get to be a kid once,” she said.
I’m an example of what not to do
For Susan Aey, breast cancer was the furthest thing from her mind until one night in bed.
“Imagine my shock when late one night while lying in bed, I had a sharp uncomfortable pain in my left breast, half asleep. I felt for a small lump the next morning – not sure if I had been dreaming. Unfortunately, it was,” she said.
Survivor, Mentor and Bodybuilder
Bodybuilder and animal lover Michelle Apple ignored the lump she found in her armpit for a year and a half before getting a mammogram. She was told it was just a lymph node and not to worry.
The lump grew as she took care of her sick mother, but she ignored it. When Apple’s mother passed, she decided to get retested at Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center. She was diagnosed with Invasive Carcinoma Breast Cancer.
The center was unable to do her lymph node transfer, so she had that procedure at the Cleveland Clinic.
“The scary part was when they did do my surgery, they did remove lymph nodes, and 21 were cancerous. So, moving forward, obviously, that makes me a little anxious,” she said.
How do you tell your 9-year-old son?
Marie Dicesare feels like she was twice struck by lightning in 2017 and 2018.
First, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
Then, she learned she had Stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Breast Cancer.
Listen to your body
Katie Audia had a cyst for two years. After she gave birth to her daughter, she realized it had changed – growing to the size of a softball. She sought help at the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center.
Audia, 32, had just bought a house with her husband. Her daughter was 10 months old when she got a call from the center while at working at Turning Technologies in Youngstown.
They tell you you’re cancer free, but …
Kristina Juratovic describes herself as “patient zero” because there was no history of cancer in her family.
“It was a big shock for everybody,” she said.
Juratovic, a pharmacist at St. Elizabeth’s from Brookfield, did her breast exam two and a half weeks before she found the lump.
Cancer was mommy’s ‘boo boo’
Before her Stage 2 breast cancer diagnosis in August 2018, Roslyn Castillo’s life was a balancing act between raising her three children and working.
When she was given her diagnosis, Castillo, 43, was in shock.
They thought ‘Mommy’s gonna die.’
At age 53, Sherry Spivey’s life was back on track in January 2016, having just re-enrolled at Youngstown State University to finish her social work degree. Then she was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer. When the doctor told Spivey the lump in her breast was a small tumor, she immediately thought of death and believed her life was coming to a sudden halt just as she felt she had started living again.
With Panerathon, we are not alone
Cyndi DiClaudio became a grandmother soon after she was cleared from breast cancer. She never thought she would get this far in life after cancer.
“There’s a lot of what-ifs and struggles through the treatment,” she said.
Panerathon Takes On New Meaning for Long-Time Panerathon Volunteer and Her Daughter
Linda Feher, a long-time Mercy Health employee, has volunteered her time for Panerathon since it first began in 2010. Linda, who has spent countless hours stuffing race bags, helping at packet pickup events, and volunteering on race day in the hot August sun all in support of the Joanie Abdu
Firefighters in Pink – The Unique Way Some are Finding to Participate in Our Annual Panerathon
With a high temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit and a humidity level of 93{1c48f2369e40a4500ced56480f10596f122c78b436d091a10689feb5eafc5a0c}, this year’s Panerathon was a hot and muggy one to say the least. Runners, walkers, and spectators dressed in their shorts and dri fit short-sleeved shirts to keep themselves cool while out in the sun for
COUSINS FOR A CAUSE – AN INSPIRING STORY ABOUT WHAT PANERATHON MEANS TO ONE SPECIAL FAMILY
Every year on a Sunday in late August, hundreds of teams and individuals gather together in downtown Youngstown, Ohio to walk, jog, or run for one common cause: to raise funds for the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center (JACBCC) at St. Elizabeth Hospital Youngstown. This facility, which opened its