Survivor Series

John Dempsey, a resident of Munster, Indiana, began his long battle with cancer at the age of 52-years-old. Dempsey had no idea that receiving a colonoscopy as a preventative measure would begin a six-year journey with colorectal cancer. Dempsey...

Portage resident David Fadely has been coaching Pop Warner football in Portage for 14 years, and he has even led the Portage team to its first national tournament appearance. In 2019 Fadely was starting to feel sick which he attributed to the stress...

For Ty Artherhults, the first signs of cancer came in the fall of 2021. Artherhults was experiencing bowel problems and other significant symptoms, which led him to see Dr. Hector Marchand, Jr. in Valparaiso. Around Christmas, Marchand ran tests on...

Gary resident LaKenya Mackey-Ellis beat breast cancer not once, but twice. It would start when Mackey-Ellis went for a routine mammogram where she found out she had breast cancer. She was diagnosed for the first time on June 17, 2017. “I was pretty...

Crown Point resident Shelly Barnes’ battle with cancer started in January 2014 after her girlfriend passed away from breast cancer. Barnes had grandkids who she did not want to leave, so she had her daughter-in-law find her a place for a mammogram....

For Valparaiso resident Cheryl Highlan, it started in July of 2022 with a routine mammogram. The doctors found a lump that, when the biopsy results came back, revealed that Highlan had breast cancer. Highlan’s care team at Northwest Health - Porter...

St. Louis, Missouri native Pamela “Pam” Barton had only moved to Hobart a couple months before her diagnosis. In the fall of 2022, she decided she would go in to see the doctor for a routine check up. Despite having little signs or symptoms, her...

Valparaiso resident Karen Nelson is a breast cancer survivor. Despite having gone through a hard battle, Nelson used the experience as a growing one rather than a negative one. Nelson used a positive attitude and faith to guide her through the...

Valparaiso resident Roberta Tuft is a thyroid cancer survivor who has survived cancer not once but twice. Her journey started just before Thanksgiving in 2006. She went in to see Dr. John Carter, her primary doctor in Hobart because she was having...

Merrillville resident Joy Johnson always goes in for an annual mammogram. However, in the year 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Johnson was nervous to go. Now just over two years cancer free, Johnson is thanking her blessings that she...