{"id":146833,"date":"2025-12-22T22:36:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T03:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=146833"},"modified":"2025-12-22T22:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T03:36:11","slug":"cancer-patients-are-celebrated-at-10th-annual-pink-pumpkins-coins-4-chemo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=146833","title":{"rendered":"Cancer Patients Are Celebrated at 10th Annual Pink Pumpkins Coins 4 Chemo"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo provided by Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health)<\/span><\/p>\n

Homecooked food, gifts and Santa were highlights at the event.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lehigh Valley, Pa. (Dec. 22, 2025) \u2013 For the 10th year in a row, patients undergoing active cancer treatment at Lehigh Valley Topper Cancer Institute, part of Jefferson Health, got to celebrate the holidays as VIPs. That\u2019s the spirit at the annual party sponsored by Pink Pumpkins Coins 4 Chemo, a nonprofit established in 2015 by Lehigh Township cancer survivor Deeana Bedics. This year, the party took place Dec. 18 at Lehigh Valley Hospital (LVH)\u2013Muhlenberg and spread an abundance of holiday cheer among patients and their families.<\/p>\n

In addition to a homecooked meal and desserts, patients received handmade cards from elementary students and Santa presented them with gifts. Attendees could also have their photo taken with the \u201cjolly ole elf.\u201d Staff from the Cancer Institute served dinner to a grateful crowd of about 50 people.<\/p>\n

As usual, Pink Pumpkins founder Deeana Bedics was there to greet and mingle with attendees. Tirelessly managing the event each year, she founded Pink Pumpkins Coins 4 Chemo a decade ago, as she was undergoing six months of treatment for breast and liver cancer. Her organization holds fundraising efforts throughout the year, which not only results in this special holiday gathering, but also provides donations to the Prager Patient Assistance Fund. The Prager fund provides financial support for the nonclinical needs of cancer patients who are being treated at the Cancer Institute and their families.<\/p>\n

“It bothered me that people worried about the holidays, and that they couldn’t take care of themselves or their family members. I thought we could do a little something about that,” Bedics said. “We’re not only making memories for patients. Their loved ones will have those memories and that’s just as important, if not more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedics said the party is a way to connect with others and share their feelings about their condition. “[We wanted] a place to share the camaraderie with others who are like you. Here at the center, we’re all from the same village, we all are doing the same journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hematologist oncologist Ranju Gupta, MD, President of Medical Staff, Jefferson Lehigh Area, has been involved since the party\u2019s inception a decade ago and also attended this year. \u201cThis event is meaningful in helping to create a community for patients being treated at the Cancer Institute,\u201d Dr. Gupta said. \u201cSharing their experiences with each other becomes part of their healing process as they address the emotional aspects of the disease and going through therapy. Besides that, it\u2019s just a fun night, which we all value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nPriscilla Turbitt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photo provided by Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health) Homecooked food, gifts and Santa were highlights at the event. Lehigh Valley, Pa. (Dec. 22, 2025) \u2013 For the … Continue reading Cancer Patients Are Celebrated at 10th Annual Pink Pumpkins Coins 4 Chemo<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146833","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/pink-pumpkins-event.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146833"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146833\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/146834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}