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Nov 05, 2024

Celene’s Angels helping breast cancer patients meet daily needs - Observer-Reporter

Celene Petre should have been enjoying one of the happiest times of her life. The newlywed had just married her husband, Michael, in 2016. But two years later, she received a phone call that would

Celene Petre should have been enjoying one of the happiest times of her life. The newlywed had just married her husband, Michael, in 2016. But two years later, she received a phone call that would change her life.

“Of course, I was called while I was at work,” says Petre, a New Eagle resident. “I’m a certified medical assistant and I was working with one of our doctors at a satellite office, and I get a phone call at 9 a.m. telling me I have breast cancer. You know, like, how terrible is this day going?”

After taking a moment alone to shed some tears, a female patient saw her and asked what was wrong.

“I told her I just got a little bit of bad news, that I just got a phone call, and they told me I have breast cancer, and she gives me a hug and says, ‘You’re gonna be OK … I’ve had it too.’ I’m like, this lady was supposed to be there for me. My mom’s not here.”

Celene lost her mother to breast cancer in 2015.

To make matters worse, her husband was badly injured at work two days before she received her diagnosis, leaving them both unable to work during her surgery, treatment and recovery. “We went from two of us working more than full time to neither of us even able to work and me at times not able to move,” Petre remembers. “We relied on a lot of family and friends to get us to and from appointments and to help us and just to even do the cooking and cleaning around the house. Friends and family were coming in to help us. I was so lucky with such a great support system. But at one point in time, we didn’t even have food on our table.”

She made a promise to herself during that difficult time. “That’s when I was like, ‘God, just let me live through this, and I’ll do whatever I can to help other people.'”

Her treatment was successful, and she made good on that vow by starting the nonprofit group Celene’s Angels, which is this month’s recipient of the Driven By Hope Award sponsored by Washington Auto Mall.

“My mom would have wanted us to do this,” she says. “It was so important to me personally to start the nonprofit to be able to help men and women both going through breast cancer.”

Celene had a recurrence of breast cancer 14 months after her first treatment ended. More surgery and radiation have her cancer-free again and driven to help others facing treatment. “We help people by giving them means to get necessities.” That can be a $250 gift card to pay for things like groceries, gasoline and other daily needs.

“People are planning to make 20 trips to the hospital in a month,” she says. “That means radiation is literally every day, five days a week. Can you imagine driving into Pittsburgh and paying for parking over there, too? We also help with $250 toward medical bills.”

Petre credits her support network for helping her through treatment and now helping to make Celene’s Angels’ work possible.

“We would go nowhere without the amazing support that we have,” says Petre. “I’m just the reason they’re here, but the reason why we keep on going and doing things is because of everyone else. It’s not me, it’s everybody else. They make it so we can help a lot of people.” Celene’s Angels has raised more than $100,000 since it started with an annual fundraiser held each fall, more fundraisers throughout the year and the support of donors and sponsors.

“There is such a need out there. I get applications from people even younger than my son and they have small kids,” says Petre. “We’re making it easier to not have to worry about groceries for a few weeks. But that few weeks is something to them.”

For more information on Celene’s Angels, to donate or to request an application for help, visit celenesangels.org.