Northeast Woman: Dunmore mom fights to help kids with cancer after son's diagnosis

Dec. 15--Despite growing up as a "very type-A, typical first child" who liked to take charge, Dunmore resident Tori Donahue learned through a series of difficult life lessons that you can't plan for everything.

The 31-year-old mother of three (with another on the way) always strived to be an overachiever, whether it was as a role model for her three younger brothers or captaining the soccer team and cheerleading squad at Scranton Preparatory School.

"I loved to lead the pack," Donahue said on a recent afternoon in her Hollywood section home, which she redesigned herself.

Life tested her resolve in a major way for the first time during her senior year of college at Penn State, when she found herself pregnant. With a strong support system that included her family, her sorority sisters and the baby's father, who also was in school and later became her husband, Donahue chose to keep the baby and finish her education.

"I decided to power my way through it. It was a big jump," she said. "But having my son (Luca) was the best thing I've ever done."

Upon graduation, she and her now-ex moved to Georgia, where they had a daughter, Serafina, and Donahue worked in floral and event design. When the relationship fell apart, she moved back to Northeast Pennsylvania with her kids to start anew.

"It took a while to figure out who I was again. I had nothing (career-wise) here, no connections," she said. "It took a while to regroup and find myself again as a woman."

Donahue eventually opened a boutique dress shop in 2015 and became reacquainted with Adam Donahue, whom she had dated in high school. They married and added to their family with daughter Delaney and are expecting another baby this spring.

"I really felt the universe knew what it was doing when it put us back on each other's path," Tori Donahue said. "We came into each other's lives at the perfect time. It was not the easiest of paths, but we're very lucky and fortunate."

They faced tragedy when her mother-in-law succumbed quickly to stage IV lung cancer and encountered yet another challenge in September 2018 when Luca was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Getting that answer took plenty of advocacy on Donahue's behalf, however, as his condition was initially misread as seasonal allergies. Her mother's intuition kicked in, and she brought Luca to an emergency room for more tests, which uncovered the disease.

"I'm not a worrywart or helicopter mom. I just knew something was very, very wrong," Donahue said.

His health had deteriorated so much by that point that doctors insisted on sending him by ambulance transport to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. While the first 48 hours were a whirlwind in which Donahue said she struggled just to come up for air, she was inspired by Luca's calm and composure throughout. Over a year later, Luca is more than four months into his maintenance regimen, which will continue for about two years and includes daily chemo pills, steroids and once-monthly chemo by IV and direct injection into his back. Doctors also uncovered a hole in his heart during the course of diagnostics, but surgical repair for that won't happen until later this month now that Luca is stronger.

The entire family has faced challenges and grown from the ordeal, which instilled a great deal of empathy and a new world view for everyone, Donahue noted.

"It changed all of us for the better, but the road to get there is not something I would wish on anyone," she said. "I always felt I was lacking somewhere. You just do the work, but it was exhausting. It was brutal."

Donahue hopes to establish a nonprofit that serves as a resource for couples and families navigating such circumstances. In the meantime, she focuses on spreading awareness and fighting for more regulation and government intervention for life-saving cancer drugs.

The battle became necessary this fall when Vincristine, a crucial chemo maintenance drug that treats most childhood cancers, suddenly came up in short supply for many hospitals and clinics. One company that makes a form of it had announced it planned to discontinue production because of a lack of profitability, while the only other maker ran into manufacturing delays.

Donahue organized and widely distributed a White House petition to rectify the situation and call for more oversight into the way pharmaceutical companies control the market on life-saving drugs. Within 10 days, she had gathered more than the 100,000 signatures needed to earn a response from the White House, but she was surprised when one of the manufacturers instead agreed to resume production on its own.

"This drug is the backbone, a staple of chemo to so many childhood cancers. It's what Luca gets every month," Donahue said. "It's essential to getting and keeping kids in remission. It's so unique in that there's no suitable substitute. Kids were getting sent home from clinic without it. It was chaos.

"My goal with the petition was not just a quick fix. We need a long-term effect put into place. We need the government to make legislation to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable. We need regulation. This drug has no replacement, and we know our kids need it for survival."

Donahue also has worked to rally local legislators to the cause and said she won't stop until a policy is in place to protect all children.

"For me, this is really important, not just to push the government or Big Pharma but to raise awareness," she said. "Ignorance is bliss, but when you go through an experience like this, you have such an awakening.

"It's really hard to care about something that doesn't directly impact you -- that's human nature. But now that I know, my conscience wouldn't let me do nothing. I was sick over it, but I slept better at night knowing I was being a voice for my child and other children. I didn't do it for attention or a pat on the back. I just felt like I had to at least try. So many more people are aware now of this problem, so I at least feel like I accomplished that, which is huge."

Donahue said she and her family will never forget all they've overcome to earn the wisdom of what's really important in life. And she urges others to remain kind and thoughtful about families going through tough times -- even when things seem to be improving -- as there still are daily, unseen struggles and scars that linger.

"I'm more than just a cancer mom," Donahue said. "I'm all about pushing forward, but it's something we will carry with us."

Contact the writer: pwilding@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9127

Meet Tori Donahue

At home: Lives in Dunmore with her husband, Adam, and children Luca Burgio, 9; Serafina Burgio, 7; and Delaney Donahue, 2.

At work: Contributor for The Mom Edit, a fashion/home/lifestyle blog based out of Philadelphia

Inspirations: "I'm a creative mind, so beautiful things inspire me," Donahue said, pointing to interior and floral design, art, natural beauty and her son.

Aspirations: To build her blogging career and local clientele for interior design, and to find a better work/motherhood balance

Diversions: Floral design and spending time with her girlfriends

Aversion: Judgmental people

Quote: "What matters most is how well you walk through the fire." -- Charles Bukowski

___

(c)2019 The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.)

Visit The Times-Tribune (Scranton, Pa.) at thetimes-tribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.