High school valedictorian fights through cancer to meet his goals
Nick Pantalone's parents insisted on taking him to the family doctor after he was shaken up in what appeared to be a minor accident in which he was briefly pinned against a chain link fence by a bus.
The motor vehicle accident injuries were negligible. But the exam revealed Pantalone had cancer.
Nick fought through chemotherapy and surgery to graduate in 2011 from Cedar Cliff High School in Camp Hill as class valedictorian. He talked about the challenges he faced in theis 2011 interview.
(Update: Pantalone is now a student at Lebanon Valley College, where he told the college news service about the impact the Four Diamonds Fund has had on his life: “I knew nothing about the Four Diamonds beforehand. When they said to us, ‘You’re eligible to receive benefits from the Four Diamonds Fund,’ we had no idea what that meant at the time.”
“In retrospect, it means so much. We haven’t seen a single bill for any of my medical treatments. I know some of the simple shots I’ve gotten to boost my immune system run $3,000 or $4,000 apiece.”)
