Thursday April 10, 2014 VOL. LV, ISSUE 24
Inside
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY ERIC BASCELLI
347 days later - Eric Bascelli revisited Last year, a story was written about facilities worker Eric Bascelli before he underwent his operation and treatment for stage three esophageal cancer. Today, after 26 weeks of chemotheraphy, Bascelli is cancer free. BY NICHOLAS CIPOLLONE Sports Editor
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347 days, 26 weeks of chemo and a 20 pound daughter that can be lifted by her father again. After being diagnosed with stage three esophageal cancer on Dec. 18, 2012, Eric Bascelli finally received the news that he is cancer free on Nov. 29, 2013. April 1, 2013, Bascelli went under the knife having an Ivor Lewis Esophagectomey. The surgery took out half of his stomach and esophagus. It took about two months for Bascelli to be able to do anything. “The first month after surgery, I could get up and walk around, but I couldn’t lift my daughter who is 20 pounds,” Bascelli said. The second month Bascelli was finally able to pick up his daughter, because he had recovered enough that he was in rehab, but was still going through chemo treatments. “I had 29 years of eating how I want to eat, and they take half of my stomach out and expect me to eat a certain way, and my body still wants to eat like it
used to,” Bascelli said. After hitting an all-time low weight of 155 pounds, Eric has almost gained 30 pounds back and is now back to his normal weight. “People ask me how I look so good after 26 weeks of chemo,” Bascelli said. “The best way I can describe it is a lot of people train for football season, a marathon or a test, something that they are training for they have to practice at it.” Eric would bring his IV and chemo treatments with him to the gym and exercise as much as he could, when he could. “So I could do what I needed to do to be myself a little bit I guess,” Bascelli said. “I was really training to be normal again. Three times a week to the gym, and I would feel good when I left, I felt like I beat cancer that day.” Prior to the surgery, Eric and his family won a trip to Disney courtesy of the For Pete’s Sake Foundation. “The trip was great!” Bascelli said. “We were in Disney for a week! It was just what we needed at the time.” The Bascelli family was given a house with four bedrooms, a pool, and everything was already set up when they got
The degree that doesn’t pay off PAGE 6
RICARDO SHEPARD RAP PRODUCER SEE UNDEREMPLOYMENT ON PAGE 3
SEE ERIC BASCELLI ON PAGE 5
Skilled immigration reform and its benefits for the US economy BY SAHRA ALI Staff Writer
SAFETY IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
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there, all they needed to get was food. Bascelli and his family were also given tickets to every amusement park and one day they even got a chance to see the Phillies take on the Braves in spring training. “I was out of work for a year, so I wasn’t making a ton of money,” Bascelli said. “Jen [Bascelli's fiancé] is going to school to be a nurse so she’s not working just yet.” Eric accumulated over one million dollars in hospital bills over his time of being sick. Cabrini College kept Bascelli employed so that he could keep his health benefits. “I would really like to thank my department for the support,” Bascelli said. “Even through the layoffs and everything they let me keep my job which was so important because if I lost it, that would have wrecked me.” This helped the Bascelli family resume life without skipping a beat. Bascelli's insurance covered most of the hospital bills and home mortgage. “We live comfortably still and I attribute getting better to that,” Bascelli said.
Annwar Ahmadd, a resident of Philadelphia, starts his day off by calling his family in India. Every morning at 5:30 a.m. he calls his wife and kids, along with his parents, siblings and other relatives asking about school, how much they have grown, and what they had for lunch. "I miss my family, but I know that I'm doing more for them while I'm away from them," Ahmadd said. Ahmadd works as an engineer in Philadelphia and has been doing so for a few months now. He got an
offer after he graduated with his Masters in his hometown of Mumbai, the capital of India, to work as an engineer for a company in the United States. Ahmadd took the offer thinking he would be able to bring along his family and get a good pay. Soon after, he found out that the company he was planning to work for wasn't able to allow him to be accompanied by his family and that only he would be able to come and work. Looking out for the future of his children and family he took the job.
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