The Spark

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Stephanie Williams was a nurse and stopped her employment when she had her daughter in 2015. In 2021, she had a persistent cough that turned out to be lung cancer.

“When I was diagnosed, I was 37 years old, and I didn't have the typical risk factors we think of when we think of lung cancer. For example, I'm what they call a never smoker. I didn't have a family history of lung cancer, and there were no environmental exposures that we were aware of that would have contributed to my diagnosis. So, my family and I were very shocked, “said Williams.

According to Dr. Troy Moritz, thoracic surgeon with UPMC, Lung Cancer is abnormal growth in the lung.

“It occurs when the cells have mutations. They go unchecked and then they multiply sometimes rapidly. And the checks and balances that our body has to take care of, altered DNA sort of fail. And so those cells are allowed to multiply unchecked. You can have growth of different types of cells and that's why we get different types of lung cancer, “said Moritz.

Historically, there are different ways that someone can get diagnosed with lung cancer.

 “You had symptoms. Now you maybe coughed up blood. Maybe you were short of breath, maybe you had a cough, maybe had chest pain. And your doctor would then prescribe an X-ray or a Cat scan or some other diagnostic test. The other way was what we called incidentally found. And that's people that maybe had a kidney stone and got a Cat scan or they fell off a ladder and came to the E.R. and got a Cat scan or for some reason they got imaging done. And on that imaging, we would see a nodule or a mass that would lead to an investigation and uncover that they had lung cancer. Nowadays, we're fortunate because we have screening for lung cancer, “said Moritz.

Today, Stephanie has become an influencer on social media, raising awareness about Lung Cancer.

“Shortly before starting chemotherapy, I went on Tik Tok and just made a couple of videos talking about this crazy thing that happened to me, which is finding a tumor in my long after a little bitty cough that I wasn't too worried about. And sharing that story got some interest. People started following me. People would comment about a family member they know that had lung cancer or even people who were newly diagnosed themselves. And I continued to share my story through chemo. And the following grew a little bit. And it's been a nice outlet for me to kind of process some things surrounding my diagnosis. And it's made some great connections for me with other people, with lung cancer organizations and helps me get the word out, “said Williams.

During this month, Dr. Moritz is working to raise awareness and break the stigma associated with lung cancer.

“You know, I started my career a long time ago and, you know, lung cancer was perceived as, you know, kind of an older smoker's disease. And so there's not a lot of sympathy in that. And so over time, you know, as less and less of our population smoke, it becomes more and more apparent that nonsmokers do get lung cancer. And so people like Stefanie are incredibly important to advocating for that and changing people's perception of what lung cancer is all about. A lot of times when people think about women's cancers, everybody immediately thinks about the gynecologic or the breast cancer. But what most people don't realize is that lung cancer kills more women. It's the leading cancer killer in women. And so that's an awareness that most people just don't have. And so people like Stephanie can sort of help change those minds to young people get cancer. Not a lot, but some do in nonsmokers get lung cancer, but it's also survivable. There's been more advancements in the last five years than the prior 50 years, and that comes from surgery, radiation advancements, chemotherapy advancements. The entire treatment paradigm has changed. People survive a lot longer with more advanced stage lung cancer. And so it's important to have advocates. It's important to have people out there that are trying to change the way people see lung cancer because that drives funding and it drives organizations that are out there creating public awareness, “said Moritz.

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Coming up on this week's edition of The Spark Weekly.

A study for the advocacy group PennEnvironment found microplastics present in waterways throughout Pennsylvania, making it a major concern in the fight against pollution.

Also, on the program.

The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is a non-profit organization working to exonerate those convicted of crimes they did not commit, prevent innocent people from being prosecuted and convicted, and to help those wrongfully convicted transition to freedom.

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The Pennsylvania Innocence Project is a non-profit organization working to exonerate those convicted of crimes they did not commit, prevent innocent people from being prosecuted and convicted, and to help those wrongfully convicted transition to freedom.

Nilam Sanghvi is the Legal Director and oversees all of the casework from the PA Innocence Project.

“I worked for private law firms for a long time. And when the opportunity to come do this work arose, it's almost how can you say no? It's, you know, that people just should not be in prison if they're innocent. The law is incredibly complex and technical. So, we felt, you know, this is really a place where you need a strong legal team and it's intellectually stimulating. But most important, you know, we really hope that we're giving folks a diligent look at their case that they may never have gotten in the ten, 20, 30 years that they've been dealing with the criminal legal system, “said Sanghvi.

Pennsylvania is one of 13 states that provides no compensation or services to those who have been wrongfully convicted. Blanca Castro is a reentry social worker at the non-profit. She provides reintegration services to clients after they are legally represented.

“When transitioning home for their release, they really just have the clothes on their back. And this is why reentry services is so important for our clients. And, you know, without those services, it really makes it difficult for them to have a smooth transition home. And so, we see a lot of, you know, the system failing our clients that way as well without providing any sort of compensation or services, “said Castro.

The organization has received almost 8,000 letters asking for help in the 15 years since opening in 2008. Technology plays a huge role in investigations that the Pennsylvania Innocence Project cases.

“When you think of innocence work, you think a lot of DNA testing, you hear a lot about DNA testing was done and showed this person didn't do it. And that's also something that didn't exist right in the 70s and 80s, but now can be brought to bear to try to determine whether somebody was involved in a crime or not. So, keeping up with advancing technology and using it to look back at old cases is a really important part of our work, “said Sanghvi.

Yahya Moore is currently a paralegal at the Pa Innocence Project who served 27 years for a wrongful conviction. While he was in prison, he studied law and worked as a legal aid. Once he returned home, he wanted to assist others wrongfully convicted.

“When you're studying the law and you're finding your case and you know that you're right by law, you know that the law is on your side. But you put in a petition, and you put in one after another after another. You still get denied. Right. And so, when you finally come up with an opportunity and I call it an opportunity because for so long in the city of Philadelphia, so many people weren't getting any relief. And so, it was it was so far from few in between that it was almost you could actually say it was nonexistent. And so, after piling in a petition after petition after petition and you're getting no relief, were you when someone comes up against an opportunity to say, okay, well, I take a deal. To get out or do I continue down this long journey? Appellant In these petitions, right. When? I may not get any relief. And so many people who are innocent were apt to go in and just take the deal to get it over with and so they could go home and start their lives, “said Moore.

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Our Journalist Roundtable segment for Friday November 8 was recorded Thursday November 7 around 4:30 p.m. In this episode, we spoke with WITF's Democracy Reporter Jordan Wilkie, and LancasterOnline/ LNP Statehouse Reporter Jaxon White about their election coverage. They spoke about what surprised them, where the election stands, and how this years election will impact their reporting moving forward.

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The Saint Joseph's University's Lancaster location is seeking pregnant volunteers to receive free ultrasounds from students. The ultrasound events will take place from October 29- December 4 every Tuesday and Wednesday at 9 a.m. and 10 a.m. The events are part of the student curriculum at SJU. In order for women to participate, they have to have a prior ultrasound after 18 weeks, volunteers must be 18 years of age, and have a USB drive of 1 BG or higher to receive the sonogram images.

"I think sometimes people can be hesitant or volunteers can be hesitant to come in sometimes if they don't want to know the gender. Afraid that the students will reveal the gender. Of course, you know, the students have no intentions. They don't you know, they're really not going to, you know, be around that area. And if they are, they're going to let the patient know. You know, I'm going to be looking here. You might want to look away. So it's it's not something where we're going to reveal anything that the patient doesn't know or the, you know, volunteer doesn't want to know, "said Kathryn Zale.

Volunteers are asked to schedule an appointment by calling PeggyAnn Matusiak, Administrative Assistant for sonography at SJU, at 717-947-6383.

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There has been a stretch of warm weather which is unusual for the month of November. WHTM ABC 27 Meteorologist Dan Tomaso says the weather is due to a lack of rainfall.

“If you go back and look at some of our rainfall, it's been very, very dry since late pretty much late summer through fall. And so, when you get such a dry weather pattern and it's not just dry here, it's dry across most of the eastern United States, dry east of the Rockies. And you get warmth on top of that. You have a recipe that, again, dry air begets dry air. Wet air begets wet air in many ways. So, when you stay this dry consistently, it affects everything. And so even our, you know, weekly or even semiweekly rain chances that we've had have really fallen apart by the time I get to Pennsylvania. So that just leads to more sunshine. Not as many clouds. A lot less rain. And so, the process kind of repeats itself.”

In addition, just last month, we were the fourth driest on record. So, it's gotten worse progressively as we've gone through fall. So now we're in a four-inch hole just in the last 30 days. So, we need a lot of rain, and we need it somewhat soon to alleviate these drought conditions again.

“We're talking about over several months. And so it takes a long time to now get out of those drought conditions. And why do we care about such things? Well, our drinking water response to this that we have to start conserving water so we make sure we have it for critical needs. Our reservoirs start to get lower, our creeks, our streams start to get lower, and that all plays into it.”

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Benjamin Illkanoff is the owner of Persian Cat Vintage. A store that offers a variety of antique furniture, clothing, and more. Before venturing into entrepreneurship, Illkanoff was a student at Moravian University studying political science and psychology.

“I definitely was on track to doing something like, you know, with the law and I had in planning for that. But in the back of my head and the back of my mind, I, I've always really loved clothing. Like, I started out with streetwear back in 2016 and, you know, just from high school all the way to, you know, even post College, you know, looking at graduate school and stuff.”

There are currently two Persian Cat Vintage Stores. The first location was opened in Lancaster, and the second was opened in February in Elizabethtown. Both stores offer different products to shoppers.

“So the store in Elizabethtown is an it's kind of like what I would call like a college nook, a college closet. It really, really encapsulates a 1990s and a really heavy like Y2K, 2000s vibe, whether it be like the plushies. And I'm like, I'm in the store right now, so I'm kind of just looking around and reciting back to you what I'm what I'm seeing. But it's a lot of like NASCAR stuff and toys and Pokemon and, you know, Looney Tunes and more like college crew snacks and sports memorabilia. It definitely is geared towards a college crowd versus my Columbia store is geared towards a crowd of anywhere from like the college high school crowd that I get in town to, you know, the oldest collector that I guess could walk in to the shop.”

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Temperatures are unseasonably mild for November and along with that comes a lack of rainfall and drought watch for over 30 Pennsylvania counties. The dry conditions have also increased the risk of wildfire, with more than 100 reported statewide in the last several days.

Mike Kern, Chief of Division of Forest Fire Protection at the Pennsylvania Department of Conversation and Natural Resources says the wildfires have not been following those dry areas.

“So, the wildfires, not surprisingly, have been following those dry areas, the areas of drought especially. There's been a concentration in the southwest and also along the southern tier, but in the southeastern part of the state and then even up towards the Poconos.”

As a result, the agencies have resulted in banning campfires in state parks and forests. Kern says the fires in Pennsylvania are being caused by people.

“that's usually either burning at your home or using fire or some other manner campfires or wine. That's those are usually some of the biggest causes. There are some miscellaneous causes of fire, anything from power lines and high wind to equipment use and sparks and fireworks and a lot of that stuff. But burning by humans is a main cause of fires in Pennsylvania. So, we're just. Looking to stop campfires is a way to ensure that we don't have any, you know, anything that's abandoned or not put out. Right. And we're asking people not to not to burn until we get some significant rainfall at this point.”

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Comedian Nurse Blake will be performing at Shippensburg University on November 22. Blake Lynch is a nurse, creator, advocate, viral sensation, and touring comedian.

Being born into a medical family, he followed suit by joining the healthcare field.

“My dad is a respiratory therapist. He's been a respiratory therapist for over 30 years. And my mom is medical device sales. And so, I had no other choice that night. Like that was my only option. I didn't consider anything else.”

His nursing journey includes roles in Surgical ICU, Live Transplant, Pulmonary Step Down, Injury Prevention, and Care Coordination. He realized he was funny when dealing with a patient while he was at work.

“I had a patient. I was telling her a joke and she went on, had a full asthma attack. And I'm like, You know what? I'm funny. Like, I'm funny. She was okay, by the way. She was fine.”

Being a comedian was never something Blake set out to do. Through comedy, he advocates for better working conditions for healthcare professionals.

“Being understaffed contributes to a lot of burnout. And nurses and nurses leave the profession at really, really high rates even after only a few years of being a nurse. Nurses also work, like I said, 12-hour shifts, right? We don't get lunches necessarily. We don't get breaks, but we still have to clock out for them. So, it looks like we got a break or a lunch. So, a lot of times, you know, your health care workers are working extended periods of time without going to the bathroom or without eating. And it just becomes really unsafe. And our health care in America is so expensive to other countries, you would think we would be able to provide, you know, higher quality care.”

Blake also insists those not in the medical field can enjoy his show as well. By telling his story, he believes anyone can relate to his experiences.

“I hope they realize that as nurses or people too, we have feelings and emotions. And if a health care worker is watching my video, I hope you feel less alone because it is a really, really hard job. And I hope that you watch the video and read the comments and realize that you're not the only one going through it. There's other people that can relate to you.”

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For many, the town of Gettysburg is a travel destination. Gettysburg is built on history and the legacies of those that come before us. Historian Tim Smith with the Adams County Historical Society explained how Gettysburg developed into a commercial entity and how the tourism economy developed over the years.

“After the war ended and a lot of these people who lived here had lost their farms and had no real means of livelihood and livelihood. People opened up hotels and, you know, taverns and restaurants to accommodate the number of tourists. And a lot of people started to collect stuff off of the battlefield and sell those items to tourists. So much to bring about or sort of about how people are picking up stuff like artillery shells or bullets or pieces of weapons or uniforms that were laying on their property, on their farms and selling them to tourists who are coming in to try to make some kind of living. And later, of course, it expands into local people becoming tour guides and really leaning into the tourist industry.”

For those that have never visited Gettysburg, Smith suggests starting with the Battlefield itself. You can pick up a tour map of the battlefield at a kiosk at the National Park Service Visitor’s Center.

“You can get for free and see the place where the battle was fought and the spot where Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address. And then, of course, you know, the Gettysburg Foundation has a wonderful museum at a national military park visitor center. And of course, we have a nice museum here, Gettysburg, Beyond the Battle Museum, and many of these other attractions and museums around town are really interesting to see.”

Smith believes early on, those who lived through the Battle of Gettysburg, that local people there should be some kind of public property where the battle was fought.

“In 1863, a couple of months after the battle, it was local people that first took steps to purchase Little round Top and Culp's Hill Cemetery Hill. And then as time went by, roads were put in and more and more land was purchased. The local people formed an organization called the Gettysburg Battlefield Memorial Association. And they were actually able to get grants from the Pennsylvania state legislature. And then they used those funds to purchase more land around the battlefield.”

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