Pennsylvania Telethon Raises $283K to Fight Cancer

When 8-year-olds in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania decided to help cancer patients, they didn't think small. Through their Kids Helping Kids fundraiser, they raised $8,000 for the 47th annual Cancer Telethon, joining dozens of community groups in a weekend that brought in $283,000 for the American Cancer Society.

The East End Fire Company and Notre Dame Club alone contributed $21,536. Local volunteers organized a basket raffle that earned $25,242, while Relay for Life added another $22,800. Thirty-seven musical performers donated their time, many of them cancer survivors themselves.

Alyssa Tirpak has volunteered for 13 years. "I really love that everyone in the community comes together for one positive thing," she said.

The money funds real miracles. Susie Bortnick of Coaldale was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2001 and given seven years to live. Twenty-five years later, she's thriving thanks to CAR T-cell therapy, a personalized immunotherapy that genetically engineers patients' own cells to fight cancer.

Dr. Amy DePuy, both a cancer survivor and physician, explained why the fundraising matters. "We really need to raise money for research for new drugs so cancer can be treated as a chronic disease and not a death sentence," she said.

The progress is real. Dee Mathis, executive director of the American Cancer Society, announced that 70% of people diagnosed with cancer now live five years or more. The goal is pushing that to 80% by 2050.

The Ripple Effect

The telethon's impact reaches far beyond research funding. Hope Lodge offers free rooms for patients traveling to cities for treatment, saving families from lodging costs that can top $17,000 during typical six to eight week treatment regimens.

In 2025, patients from five Pennsylvania counties stayed 3,485 nights at Hope Lodges across the East Coast. That translates to over $1 million in savings for families already facing devastating medical bills. Carbon County residents alone saved nearly $30,000, while Schuylkill County patients saved almost $197,000.

This year's telethon will fund an entire Hope Lodge room for a year. The American Cancer Society also expanded its Road to Recovery program, now covering Uber and Lyft rides when volunteer drivers aren't available.

Telethon chairman Joe Krushinsky reminded viewers that the work continues year-round. "The telethon doesn't just happen this weekend," he said. The organization needs volunteers for events throughout the year and drivers to help patients get to treatment.

Mary Storm, this year's Courage Award honoree, lost her mother to cancer in 1968 and her husband in 1996, but received treatment that sent her own breast cancer into remission thanks to research advances those earlier generations never saw.

"Let's have more stories about ending cancer as we know it," Krushinsky said, and this Pennsylvania community is putting its money where its hope is.