When Jen Bernstein, of Lewisburg, was asked to nominate someone to hand the game ball to the referees at the start of last Monday’s Coaches vs. Cancer basketball game at Bucknell, one name sprang to mind.
“I just immediately thought of Ande,” said Bernstein, a 20-year volunteer for the American Cancer Society and co-chair of Relay for Life of Susquehanna Valley. “I’ve known her for years. What she went through was amazing. She was incredibly positive through the whole thing.”
Andrea Hughey, of Williamsport, was diagnosed last March 1st with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Initially told she had five days to live, she finally responded enough to chemotherapy to be transferred to UPMC Shadyside, in Pittsburgh. There she battled through surgeries, chemo, dialysis and weakness until she was stable enough to be transferred to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville. She finally returned home June 11 and slowly resumed her life. On Nov. 5 last year, a PET scan declared her cancer-free.
A lifelong athlete, Hughey and several family members are enthusiastic Bucknell basketball fans.
“I’ve had season tickets for about 10 years,” Hughey said. “Michaele got me into it.”
“We’re big Bucknell fans,” said Michaele Kelly, Hughey’s cousin.
While Hughey dealt with her cancer treatments, family and friends rallied to support her. Carmen Terry, whose husband is associate director of athletics at Bucknell University, managed to send Hughey a signed photo of the Bucknell men’s basketball team.
“I watched the playoff games from the hospital last year,” Hughey said. “It wasn’t the same as being there.”
Hughey played softball when she attended Susquehanna University and respects athletic programs like theirs and Bucknell’s, with strong academics.
“Every athlete at (Bucknell University) earned their way into that school,” said Hughey. “Not because they could bounce a basketball, but academically they’ve earned it. And they seem like nice people. They seem like they appreciate their fans.”
“I know Ande as a very sweet, generous and genuine person,” Bernstein said of Hughey. “Her pleasant personality is kind of contagious to those around her.”
It was a fitting end, almost a year to the day, for a year that started with a nightmarish diagnosis and ended with unexpected happiness.
“We were thrilled when Jen told us,” Kelly said. “What an exciting time to celebrate Ande. And to have it happen during a Bucknell basketball game was just perfect.”
“I’m super excited about it,” Hughey said, adding she told everyone she knows, and even some strangers, about the big event. “It’s an honor for me.”
Overcoming dire diagnosis
Sometimes, in the hustle and worry of life, it’s tough to remember what a gift it is.
Andrea Hughey, of Williamsport, got a blatant reminder last year when she went to the ER thinking she had bronchitis … and was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She was given five days to live.
“They told me on a Thursday I’d be dead on Tuesday,” Hughey said.
It started with a bad cough, a tough time breathing and feeling exhausted. Hughey put off seeing a doctor until she found herself out of breath walking from the shower to her bedroom. That was Valentine’s Day of last year. A chest X-ray revealed a football-sized mass underneath her sternum. Her entire left lung had collapsed.
She was so weak she flat-lined when being transported to a bed. Doctors started chemo but didn’t think she’d survive a helicopter ride to a cancer specialty hospital.
“That was Thursday, and Friday she planned her funeral,” said her cousin, Michaele Kelly, of Lewisburg. “She got her affairs in order.”
Andrea has been a Bucknell men’s basketball season ticket holder for many years. She insisted her family attend the game that Sunday.
“She wanted her mother, father and sister (Jan, Ralph and Jennifer Hughey, all of Williamsport) to just have a day where they could get away from the hospital,” Kelly said. “After receiving positive news the day before of her white blood cells increasing, we received a wonderful text while at the game that she was able to breathe slightly on her own.
“We were all in tears. It was a sign of hope.”
Signs of improvement
Hughey learned that most people respond to chemo in eight to 10 days.
“It turns out, I’m a 12 to 14-day person,” she said.
Her white blood cell count continued to rise, and by Monday she was stable enough to be transported by helicopter to UPMC Shadyside, in Pittsburgh, where she remained until April 26. She endured “three surgeries, six rounds of chemo, two hospitals, two helicopter rides and 20-some radiations.” Kidney failure made dialysis necessary. She had to be intubated and later had a tracheotomy. She celebrated her 46th birthday in the hospital.
Through it all, her family, friends and co-workers sustained her.
“She was with a loved one, a family member, every day,” Kelly said. “We made sure she could feel the love around her. Her sister was unbelievable through all of this. She took endless notes.”
“It’s amazing,” Hughey said. “I have an amazing family. And an amazing set of friends and co-workers.”
Hughey’s employer, Horsepower Harley-Davidson, of Williamsport, held a huge fundraiser for her in March.
“They were wonderful. They held my job. They held a benefit for me,” Hughey said. She choked up as she added, “Throughout your life, you just hope you’re a good person. And when they hold a benefit like that, you think, maybe you are.”
Flown to Danville
On April 26, she was cleared for helicopter transportation to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville to finish out her treatment. Unable to lie on her back, Hughey watched the changing terrain from the helicopter as they neared the Susquehanna Valley.
“You could see things green up the closer we got to Danville,” she said.
Finally, on June 11, she was allowed to go home. Still too weak to do the stairs, her boyfriend, John Hall, carried her up and down each day while she slowly grew stronger.
“It was very tough. It was a very heavy blow,” Hall said of Hughey’s initial diagnosis. “I just knew she wouldn’t ever give up on me, and I wasn’t going to give up on her.”
Gradually Hughey returned to work, first for four-hour days, then six, driving herself to radiation in the morning then continuing on to work. By Thanksgiving she returned full time.
On Nov. 5 last year, a PET scan declared her cancer-free.
“It was overwhelming. It was the results we all prayed for,” Kelly said. “There were people praying for Ande that had never met her before. A lot of us were on our knees in prayer. I believe in the power of prayer.”
“It’s the biggest weight ever lifted off my chest,” Hall said.
Hughey’s diagnosis and recovery had a ripple effect, Kelly said, touching people across the country.
“Ande’s got a lot of spunk. She’s a fighter,” Kelly said. “We have been blessed, for sure. Not everyone has this end to their cancer story, but I pray it gives others dealing with this, hope.”
As for Ande, she tries not to “save the good china” anymore.
“You’ve got to do things today because today might be your last day,” she said. “What are you saving it for?”
