New Castle fundraiser helps cancer research at UCLA center

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — JoAnn Esposito lived with unbearable, unexplainable pain for four years. “It was in my face, shoulder and ear. I went to every doctor I could think of and I couldn’t get relief,” said the 58-year-old New Castle woman.

But finally, in March 2003, a biopsy of a lump on her neck was diagnosed as stage 4 breast cancer that had metastasized to other parts of her body. “It gave me relief. It took the pain away.

But then the whole reality of it hit me; I didn’t know how long I had to live,” Esposito said of the aggressive chemotherapy and surgery she underwent. Now, four years later, her cancer is at bay and she credits the work of a renowned cancer researcher who just happens to have grown up in New Castle.

For the complete story, see Sunday's Vindicator and Vindy.com.