Hello and welcome to living in the Lehigh Valley, where our focus is your health and wellness.

I'm your host, Brittany Sweeney.

On this episode, the Lehigh Valley is leading the way in cancer research.

We sit down with local doctors on the path to finding a treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Plus, it's a story with heart and hops, an area family is inviting people to share a beer and raise awareness about heart health.

Then we've got some tasty treats on the menu.

We're visiting a cafe in Allentown that's serving up food that doesn't just taste good, it's good for you.

Now to our first story.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the United States.

After decades of no progress in the treatment front, doctors say they could be on the cusp of a breakthrough.

And a couple of Lehigh Valley physicians are making strides in the effort.

Known to be one of the most lethal forms of cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the stubborn ones.

It's oftentimes thought to be a death sentence.

Pancreatic cancer has been one of the most difficult cancers to treat, and some patients present early enough that they can have curative intent surgery.

But despite surgery, about 80% of the time the cancer comes back and patients have already had six months of preventive chemo.

And when the cancer comes back, it's very difficult to treat.

It has a high mortality.

But hope is on the horizon.

A new immunotherapy treatment for pancreatic cancer is being tested at three sites across the country.

Clinical trials are really the lifeblood of progress in cancer and hospitals that are involved in the most cutting edge clinical trials, offer the most hope for patients.

Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health, is one of those sites.

This is important for the immune system.

Yes.

Yes.

Leading the way locally are doctors for Snare and Miguel.

Coolio.

Three local people are part of the clinical trial, made up of 104 patients.

Two thirds of them were picked to get the vaccine after surgery and six months of chemo.

One third had the surgery and chemo and are being observed as the control group.

Fortunately, all three of our patients in at Lehigh Valley were selected for the vaccine.

The treatment is a series of ten shots aimed at alerting the immune system to the mutation that's in the cancer.

This is different than the vaccines that we use for infection.

For tribal vaccines, it is more, like, targeted immunotherapy, where you actually use immunotherapy to target certain mutations that lead, to pancreatic cancer.

Nair says the research would not be possible without the newly created Kelley Center for Personalized Immunotherapy.

The Kelly Center has given our program 12 million of research funding over the next ten years to bring cutting edge treatments such as the Pancreatic Cancer vaccine study, such as the r t studies in lymphoma melanoma.

Here, phase two of the pancreatic studies are complete with treatment.

Now doctors are awaiting results.

I think this is too early for the vaccine.

We still have, to see the other trials and, and see how is this going to impact the future.

But it's good to see, science is advancing.

It's good to have a new hope.

New hope that's spread to more local patients as expanded access of the treatment was granted to 12 more people in the Lehigh Valley.

When you're able to help patients with the latest treatments and also add to the progress, for cancer patients all over the world, there's nothing like it.

It's.

Doctor Carlisle added that it doesn't replace standard treatment.

It's administered in addition to.

Doctor Nair says if phase two proves to be successful, phase three will begin with about 600 patients.

And the success of that trial would lead to FDA approval.

Now on to another topic.

Imagine being an avid runner in the best shape of your life, and then suddenly you can't even catch your breath to read a bedtime story to your children.

That was the reality for one Lehigh Valley woman who spent a year fighting for a diagnosis that standard medical tests kept missing.

But as reporter Megan Franke shows us, what started as a desperate search for answers has grown into a global lifeline for heart patients around the world.

Inside this Issaquah brewery, the conversation isn't just about hops and barley, it's also about heartbeats.

That's because the family behind the bar is on a mission to raise awareness about heart conditions that are too often missed at the age of 41.

Taylor House brewery owner Annette Pompa was the picture of health.

But in 2010, after a routine three mile run, her world came to a sudden stop.

I was a fit, active mom of two.

An art teacher, I meditated, I went to therapy for a mental health eight.

Well thought I was in the best shape of my life.

And my very last run.

I'm not superstitious, but I threw out into the universe.

I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't run.

No kidding.

September 3rd, 2010.

And overnight I would find out.

I ended up, like, so short of breath I couldn't read to my children.

And, the chest tightness started.

Doctors were stumped.

Her tests were stellar, and because there were no major blockages, she was dismissed.

But with constant chest pain and shortness of breath, Annette knew something was wrong.

I definitely was struggling.

I mean, I lost my art teaching job.

I mean, washing your hair, just getting a shower, just the.

My life went from running five kilometers every other day to laying in bed and having a hard time getting out of bed.

So she took her health into her own hands on the patient support site called inspire, and that found more than just answers.

She found a community that validated her pain.

A retired cardiac charge nurse who had it had the same symptoms.

And she said, Annette, that sounds like microvascular disease.

And so I started gathering more things.

She would send me things that would support some things with my condition, from like the NIH and, you know, respectable things to take in to my doctor.

And I went in and he still said that I couldn't have heart disease for nearly a year.

And that bounced between doctors.

Eventually, she met a few that listened, including Saint Luke's University Health Network cardiologist Doctor Louis Tojita.

Finally, it was determined that Annette had coronary microvascular disease, which affects the tiniest heart vessels.

The fact that she felt ignored was partly due to the fact that we are the medical community has not been very good as to come up with different answers and adequate answers for these patients.

This used to be called syndrome and the name is just says it all.

It says that is something we don't really know what's going on and we don't know how to treat it.

There is research in this regard.

There's a lot of medications are coming down the pipe.

But everything takes time.

So we we have to work with what we have.

Answers brought relief, but they also brought a new purpose.

And that reached out to her online network to form the International Heart Spasm Alliance.

Today, she works alongside women from the U.S., Australia and the UK like co-founder Sarah Brown to advocate for patients worldwide.

The lack of compassion and humanity from people who are meant to be healthcare professionals was a not at trial to me, and I want to stop it.

Stop it happening.

I want to change, I wanted research, I wanted people to accept the research, stop people being sent home from the emergency department and that they're getting the right treatment and effective treatment, because this is a tough condition to live with today.

And that's life is a balance of managing her own health and advocating for others.

But her most important patient was closer than she ever imagined.

She recognized the symptoms in her husband, the head brewer at Taylor House, after he suffered a massive heart attack.

Because of her own experience, she knew his pain wasn't just post surgery.

It was heart spasms.

Even though medical staff wasn't recognizing it.

Same thing was happening to him as was happening to a woman.

So it took him a lot, a lot of time to to actually come to that knowledge of it being spasm.

Now on tap at Taylor House, you'll find the Happy Heart IPA, a brew dedicated to raising awareness for the very condition that changed Annette and her husband's lives.

Dollar.

This will go to our nonprofit International Heart Spasms Alliance to help spread the word so that people are not misdiagnosed and get timely treatment beyond the brewery.

And that's global.

Network is changing lives through patient surveys, advocacy and awareness, ensuring no one has to fight this battle alone.

It's so inspiring to see how Annette took her health crisis and turned it into a global resource.

We have reporter Megan Frank here now joining us to talk a little bit more about this really neat story about health and overcoming that diagnosis and making it, for the better.

Good of everyone who's dealing with this.

Meg, it's really cool that she was able to do this.

I have to ask before we talk more about Annette.

Did you get to try the beer?

I did get to try the beer.

So it's called Hoppy Heart.

So more of the IPA style.

Very happy.

I'm not an IPA type person, but it was very good.

Very good tasting.

So I actually love citrus beers, but her brewery has a ton of different styles of beers.

That's great.

Very fun.

Place and Kat Issaquah, where you can have a brew.

And if you want to talk to her about your heart health.

Absolutely.

And back to the heart health part of this.

How do people get involved with this heart health research?

There's a way they can participate, right?

Yes.

So Annette and her organization, the International Heart Spasm Alliance, have partnered with an internationally recognized cardiologist.

He's based in Australia at the University of Adelaide, and he is conducting a study.

It's called the Heart Health Study.

Anybody can take it from around the globe.

It takes about ten minutes and it's free.

And it it's going to basically assess what might be going on with you.

And the data will then be used to inform cardiologists for years to come.

Meg, do you have to have a diagnosis to take the survey?

You actually don't.

You might just have some suspicions that something is wrong.

And in that case, remember she had this shortness of breath.

She had chest pain.

So if you're experiencing things like that you might want to take a survey like this.

Yeah a lot of times the sooner the better that you find out these types of diagnosis.

So some really great information.

Thank you.

So much for sharing that story with us.

Happy to do it.

Thanks, Meg.

Now it's time to check out a recipe that is packed with protein.

We are taking living in the Lehigh Valley on the road for another nutritious recipe.

I am here with Lyle Shoreline from Jay's local and Allentown, and we are ready to make a delicious treat.

Thank you so much for having us, Lyle.

Yes.

My pleasure.

Thanks for being here.

Yeah, we're invading your space today.

We're in your kitchen here at the cafe, but we're making a really delicious treat today.

These are boost bars.

Yes.

All right.

So.

So what's going into these bars today?

So this is the bar three boost bar.

This is a collaboration with bar three based in Allentown.

They also have a location in Bethlehem, I believe.

So, we wanted to do a collaboration.

Try to cross-promote each other, bring in some customers, hopefully for us, and then also bring in some, you know, new customers to them.

Wonderful.

Okay, so how do we get this recipe started?

So we have all the ingredients out here.

None of this is dairy.

So we're very mindful of dairy restrictions, allergies, preferences, stuff like that.

So whenever we're doing any kind of specialty item, we always want to focus on what people can eat and what people can't eat.

Great.

As we're getting some of the ingredients in here, can you tell us what we're putting into the bar?

Yeah, reveal the secret.

I will have you grab this.

So these are just rolled oats if you want to throw that in the awesome.

All right.

Toss that in.

What else?

So rolled oats.

You could get that in gluten free or just regular.

Great.

We do have some ground almonds right here if you want to throw that in there.

Thanks for putting me to work today.

Totally.

These are chia seeds.

This is a really good excuse to slice, but they're also healthy.

And, they're really good for just a lot of different things.

If you soak them in liquid, they expand and make, like, a really nice pudding.

So you could throw that in there.

Also putting the chia seeds.

What do we have next.

So here we have figs.

We're not going to throw this in here.

This is just as a visual.

But we do have a we do have some lay it out for you as a visual.

Great.

But you could use this as a sweetener.

We have figs here, or you could use dates also.

Gotcha.

Okay, so you would ground them up to grind them up?

Most of the time you want to, grind all of these items.

So it makes a really nice, smooth consistency.

Wonderful.

What do we have next here.

So those are some more oats.

We could throw those in there okay.

The more oats the better right.

That is some vanilla.

Vanilla extract.

You could use whatever kind you like that just adds a little bit of a buttery vanilla.

Good taste.

Here's some whole almonds.

We grinded these up to make our almond flour.

Awesome.

This is cashew butter.

You could use any any kind of butter you want peanut butter, cashew butter, sunflower butter anything you like.

So you could just, you know, just throw that guy in, right?

By the magic of TV.

We're going to get this in here and then tell us about the chocolate we see there.

That's like the main ingredient, right?

Like that's the star of the show.

So this is dark chocolate.

I was told that we should only use dark chocolate because dark chocolate is healthier.

We're going to melt that.

We do, just as a visual.

You could see how we did it on top there.

All right, but the chocolate, we're going to melt that down.

And that's going to be our top layer just for a little rich chocolaty taste also great.

And what do we have here.

And that is honey.

All right.

So you could use any honey that you like.

Organic local.

It's all good stuff.

Just remember to brush your teeth after all, right?

Because, you know, cavities once again, that's going to mix with the chia seeds and get in there.

Yeah.

Awesome.

Okay, so we're mixing this up while we're mixing this.

Tell me a little bit about Jay's local.

So we opened in October of 2019.

We opened in memory of my dad, Jay.

He moved to the area with my mom in the 70s.

To open up a law firm.

And he was just very fond of the area, did a lot of food, anthropic work, and just really wanted to support the Lehigh Valley as best as we can.

So we wanted to follow in his footsteps and open up a space that was welcoming like he was and, just supportive of our community.

Wonderful.

And it sounds like you're taking into consideration here a lot of the dietary restrictions that people have these days, which you don't always see at restaurants.

Right?

Yeah.

So we, we're a Blue Zones approved restaurant.

And, a lot of the items on our menu are focus on the healthier side of things.

So we're not throwing it in your face, but we're give people giving people an option.

So you could either you could eat a salad here.

You could eat a hamburger here.

So we're not telling you what to eat, but we're giving you the options to make a choice that's going to work with your lifestyle.

Wonderful.

All right.

So we have this started.

What do we do next for this delicious.

We're going to throw on some gloves right here.

Let's get our this is the messy part I'm throwing your gloves on the ground here.

That's okay.

We'll take it out of your pay.

All right.

So that works.

So this is the messy part.

This is also fun if you're going to do it with kids because it is messy and kids like to get messy.

Sure.

So you could either put on gloves if you're working at home or you could, just wash your hands.

So we're just going to we're going to put our hands in here and we're just going to squeeze it around and mix all of that together as we're doing that.

You mentioned kids, the restaurants vary kid friendly.

Yes.

They're very kid friendly.

You do things like storytime for us.

We do storytime here on Fridays.

We also do a sensory open play on Tuesdays.

And we've been doing this for the last, almost four years.

It's open to all ages.

You don't have to register.

It's free.

We find our space to be very inviting and welcoming to families, kids.

So we want to open it up for people to kind of experience that, within our space.

Wonderful, awesome.

And you've got some turf outside.

It looks like a really beautiful space and family friendly to bring the kiddos and can have some delicious treats.

All right.

So once we, mix this up, I'm like a child here.

I've been a mess having a fall.

So we're going to want this to be a little bit, wetter.

Okay, so it melts together a little bit more.

But the idea is once we have this all mixed together, we're going to throw it on our tray.

So you can either line the tray with parchment paper, or you can spray it so it doesn't stick.

Great.

And then you're going to throw everything on there or you're going to evenly spread it out.

And then once this sets you're going to throw this in the refrigerator.

To set you want to do at least an hour so that gets nice and firm.

After that we are going to spread our chocolate on there.

And then you could form it into bars.

You could form it into squares.

You want to this is a no bake recipe.

No bake, no big.

We're not turning on the oven.

We're able to just pop it in the fridge and pop it back out.

Exactly.

Awesome.

And so, Lyle, what are some of the other recipes that you have on the menu that either are really kid friendly and delicious, like this one, or fit that nutritional?

You know, you're getting an extra nutritional boost.

So we do, we do have a few protein drinks right now, and they're all customizable.

They are all dairy free just to, you know, provide something that anybody could enjoy.

We do have the protein drinks.

We do have some really healthy wraps on our menu.

And then we also do rotating, pastries.

So, we have a really good baker in-house who does a lot of really cool stuff.

So whatever my team decides to do, we like to bring in different ingredients.

We like to mix and match stuff.

So we do a lot of stuff in-house, and it's really just driving stuff from the community.

So whatever the community is looking for, whatever my staff is interested in doing, we like to just rotate fun things and then try to focus on the healthier side.

I love it, it smells so good in here.

I know we don't have smell of vision, but it smells delicious.

Everything looks absolutely delicious.

So once you pop this out of the fridge, you're pretty much done.

Yep.

That's it.

Yeah, wonderful.

You can store them in the fridge.

You could freeze them.

They're very versatile.

You could throw a banana in here.

You can throw different kinds of fruits.

So you could really do this.

You could do whatever trick the kids into eating this fruits and snack, whatever we can, and not let them know they're actually doing it.

You could turn a green, throw some spinach in there, top it with a little avocado, whatever.

I don't know if those will match, but yeah, you know, not do whatever you want.

The sky's the limit.

And Lyle, if folks want to come visit you here at Jay's local, when are you open?

When can they come see you?

We're open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m.

to 3 p.m.. Wonderful.

So get a little breakfast or some lunch.

Bring the family for one of the events that you partner here with some of the community, entities as well.

It sounds like a really fun place to just come and eat some delicious food.

We thank you so much.

Where can people check you out online?

So we have a website JS local.com.

You can find us Instagram, Facebook.

We're also on Snapchat and TikTok.

So whatever.

If you are you know, tech savvy, you could literally find us, you know, anywhere.

Very cool.

Lyle from JS local.

Thank you so much for letting us invade your space and showing us how to make these awesome booth bars.

Definitely.

Thank you.

And by the magic of TV, I have one of those bars here to try.

I'm going to give it a little bite.

Great.

This would be a perfect little snack.

Or maybe after a workout.

Really really tasty.

So we thank Today's Local for having us.

It was a really fun shoot to join them.

And finally, we conclude with a fresh start in Allentown.

Seeking treatment where you live is not always easy for those fighting addiction, but a newly reopened rehabilitation center is offering just that in the heart of the city.

Here's more on the project, funded by opioid settlement money.

32100 scary.

Think just like that.

Following more than a year long hiatus, an Allentown rehabilitation center is reopening.

Dozens of people gathered to mark the occasion as lawmakers.

The Lehigh County district attorney and rehab staff took to the podium.

The more people we can director recovery, the more people we can encourage to successfully complete recovery, the better that's going to be for our community.

Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Halligan played a crucial role in finding the funding to revamp treatment trends.

Allentown Residential, which closed in 2024.

We had a grant, for $1 million from the drug treatment program with the state, and we didn't think we could spend that money and, productive way in the time frame we had.

We worked with Lehigh Counties drug and alcohol, and the DAP office repurposed that entire million dollar grant to fund the renovations that took place here to get this place back open again.

He outreached our office, and we had the idea of reaching out to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs AB to see if we could repurpose that million dollars into renovating this beautiful space.

The space is once again an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment center equipped with space for up to 50 patients.

They'll come here and build a foundation for their recovery.

They'll start with residential treatment.

So it's a 24 hour facility.

They get services pretty much eight, ten hours of treatment during the day.

Varies from groups to individual activities.

Sober activities.

Treatment trends.

Executive Director John Dillon Snyder says he sees this facility as a starting place for those looking for help, regardless of their financial situation.

Our mission and what the people we serve are the uninsured and young here in church, so there's a huge population in Allentown that's maybe not so well off.

It's nice to be able to served here, where your family and your support network is.

So people from the Lehigh Valley, with the funds from the opioid settlement money allocated to the county.

The South sixth Street location received a top to bottom makeover.

On the first floor, there's a dining room, kitchen, there's a workout room, and a small lounge.

On the second floor is where all of the staff offices are.

The doctor's office.

The nurse's office.

There's two bedrooms on the second floor, but mostly it's the hub of the staff.

On the third floor is the all male floor, and fourth floors, female floor.

Fourth floor also has the laundry.

And then the fifth floor is a rec room with a pool table, ping pong table, a lounge area, and a computer lab.

It's a second chance for a place that offers a second chance to those who need it.

Recovery is possible.

People do get better.

Treatment also operates a halfway house, an outpatient program, an all male recovery house, and three recovery centers in Northampton County.

The $1 million used for the project is part of the nearly 20 million Lehigh County is set to receive over an 18 year period.

That will do it for this episode of living in the Lehigh Valley for PBS 39.

I'm Brittany Sweeney hoping you stay happy and healthy.