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Cancer center dances toward goal
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Anna Aey and Donna Detwiler had never met but they both had the same idea.
Both women are cancer survivors who wanted to start a cancer wellness center in the Youngstown area.
Detwiler, of North Lima, is a retired oncology — or cancer — nurse. She was nominated for an Athena Award in 2010, and talked about her idea while speaking at the ceremony.
Aey, of Canfield, was in the audience. She contacted Detwiler afterward to express her interest and the two began to work together toward their goal.
A wellness center is a place where cancer sufferers and their families can go for support and nonmedical help. They are common in big cities but not so much in cities the size of Youngstown.
The nearest one is in Akron, which will be the model for the Youngstown center, which Aey and Detwiler hope to have up and running by 2014. The two women have not yet begun to scout for a location, but will likely rent space with an eventual goal of purchasing a building.
The typical wellness center hosts speakers, assembles a library of information, provides a central meeting place for insurance experts and caregivers, and offers art, yoga and other forms of cancer therapy.
“Support is so important and not just for the person with cancer,” said Detwiler. “The whole family is in crisis. We want to start a place where people can ask questions and get the help they need, free of charge. The goal is to keep the mind, body and spirit healthy.”
Detwiler and Aey have already laid the groundwork for creating a wellness center, which will be called Yellow Brick Place. They have created a nonprofit company, formed a board and have begun raising funds. “People are already calling us to ask us for help,” said Aey.
Their efforts are about to become much more visible to the public.
Yellow Brick Place will present an evening of youth dance performance at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Youngstown Playhouse. All proceeds will go toward opening the wellness center.
Scheduled to perform are members of Ballet Western Reserve, Jones Dance Academy, Liz Rubino Studio, the Performing Arts Center, the Youngstown Connection and Tribe of EOS, with additional performances by Billie Anzevino, Colleen Chance, Joshua William Green and Nikita Jones. Liz Rubino will serve as host.
Tickets are $25 ($10 for children age 3 to 12). Call 330-398-3768 for reservations.
Three of Aey’s four daughters will be involved with the show: Izzy, 14, and Emilia, 10, both students at BWR (although Emilia will be dancing with Jones Dance Academy), and Gracie, 12, who will be dressed as a scarecrow.
It was Aey’s idea to bring together area youth performing arts studios for the benefit show in order to inspire hope, said Rubino. “Kids lift hearts like no other and the arts are incredibly healing, so it was an ideal juxtaposition,” she said.
Yellow Brick Place derives its name from “The Wizard of Oz,” said Aey, and its theme is “There’s no place like hope.”
For that reason, Saturday’s show will use music from all of the “Oz” stories, including “Wicked” and “The Wiz.”
The audience, said Rubino, “will walk away feeling lifted and inspired.”
Detwiler and her husband, Jerry, have four grown children. She suffers from multiple myloma, a blood cancer. She worked at North Side and St. Elizabeth’s hospitals in her nursing career, but retired last year. She has had a stem-cell transplant but recently suffered a relapse in her battle with cancer.
Detwiler had already started a local support group for myloma sufferers before teaming up with Aey. “Yellow Brick Place is a way to continue what I love to do — help patients,” she said.
Aey and her husband, Richard, have four daughters: the three that are in Saturday’s show and 17-year-old Lilly. She suffers from lymphoma, and received a stem-cell transplant herself seven years ago. Her cancer has been in remission since then.
Aey is a native of England. She was working at a ski resort in Austria 22 years ago when she met her husband, who was vacationing there.