Bounce In Her Step

Anna Bethea got it back with a new oncology rehab program

Anna Bethea, 62, of Allentown defeated lung cancer and got back on her feet— and to the grocery store— with cancer rehabilitation.

In January 2005, a colonoscopy and subsequent x-ray showed Anna Bethea had cancer. The 62-year-old Allentown woman took the news with courage. “What do I do now, doc?” she asked her gastroenterologist, Michael Ufberg, M.D.

Ufberg referred her to the Lung Cancer Consultation team, a team of four physicians—a medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, heart-and-lung surgeon and interventional pulmonologist. They determined the best course of treatment and started radiation and chemotherapy to shrink Anna’s large tumor. Then, in August, heart-and-lung surgeon Raymond Singer, M.D., performed surgery to remove the tumor completely.

Bethea’s cancer went away, but the combined treatments and surgery left her with only a fraction of her energy. “With every follow-up appointment, Anna would always ask for a shot of vitamin B-12 to give her a boost,” says hematologist-oncologist Elliot Friedman, M.D. “She was so fatigued, she couldn’t shop at the mall.”

To boost her energy, Friedman referred her to our new oncology rehabilitation services program. Unique to the Lehigh Valley, the program offers specific exercises and education to fight fatigue.

“Sleeping and resting don’t cure extreme fatigue,” says Holly Ehrenfriend, Bethea’s occupational therapist. “She needed to get back on her feet and be active again.”

For three days a week over two months, Bethea walked on the treadmill, rode an exercise bike and lifted weights. “It really helped me,” she says. “It wasn’t always easy, but now I can go to the mall and go grocery shopping again and not have to rest in the car after five minutes.”

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