During the American Cancer Society’s upcoming Telethon 2023, Jim Thorpe Area High School special education teacher Allison Solley will be one of this year’s award recipients.

A 36-year-old mother of two, Solley is battling Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer and is undergoing treatment at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She lives in Bethlehem with her parents so they can help her with her daughters.

“Breast cancer awareness is extremely important,” Solley said.

She knows she is battling a terminal cancer that has spread to her lungs, liver and bones, but she is hopeful. She is responding well to treatment, and is hopeful that it will prolong her life another 5 to 10 years or longer.

As an award recipient, Solley said her goal is to get out the message to people to be their own advocate in regards to their health care.

“Be more aware. Prioritize your health,” she said. “I just hope to save a life.”

Solley said she should have been more proactive in her health situation, but she trusted her doctor.

In the fall of 2021, Solley found a pea-sized lump in her breast. She contacted her gynecologist to make an appointment and asked if she should have a mammogram. She couldn’t get an appointment for either.

Solley said her doctor told her that she was too young for a mammogram.

The current policy in the United States is that women between the ages of 40 and 49, who are at average risk for breast cancer, should talk to their doctors about when they should start getting mammograms and how often they should get them, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Women who are between the ages of 50 and 74 and at average risk should get a mammogram every two years.

Solley’s doctor told her she wasn’t at high risk for breast cancer, because she doesn’t have a close family member who had breast cancer. The doctor told her not to worry and that it was probably a benign cyst.

She told the doctor that both of her grandmothers had breast cancer, but the doctor said that doesn’t qualify as a close family member.

According to the American Cancer Society, a first-degree relative is a mother, sister or daughter with breast cancer. The risk of getting breast cancer almost doubles for women who have a first-degree relative with breast cancer.

The doctor told Sulley they would look into the lump at her next visit.

“Women under 40 are easily dismissed,” Solley said.

The lump grew over the next several months and in July 2022, she received the Stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

Because of chest pain and lower back pain, further testing revealed that the cancer had spread to the sternum bone in her chest and to bones in her back.

“If you feel something, get it checked out,” Solley said. “Be an advocate for yourself.”

There is another thing that is important to her.

Solley would like health insurance companies to cover mammograms for women under 40 with an average risk of breast cancer. Most of them do not provide this coverage.

“I think this policy needs to change,” she said. “You shouldn’t have to wait until your 40 for a mammogram.”

In the meantime, Solley hopes the money raised by the American Cancer Society will help to find a cure for her cancer and all cancers.

“The research is so important,” she said.

Allison Solley will receive her Courage Award at 7:55 p.m. at Penn’s Peak.

The telethon will run from noon to midnight on Saturday and Sunday. Donations may be made online at www.cancertelethon.org/give or by telephone at 1-800-883-2109. Checks should be made payable to the American Cancer Society Telethon, P.O. Box 33, Lansford, PA 18232.

For more information, email at cancertelethon@gmail.com. To volunteer, call 570-805-4555.