Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

Battling three cancers at once | Morning Newsletter

And protecting the Brandywine watershed.

(Left to right) Madison Monahan, Ryan Monahan, Rylee Monahan, Crystal Monahan, a family battling an inordinate amount of cancer, will participate later this month in the 2023 Parkway Run & Walk, organized annually by CHOP on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to raise money for pediatric cancer research.
(Left to right) Madison Monahan, Ryan Monahan, Rylee Monahan, Crystal Monahan, a family battling an inordinate amount of cancer, will participate later this month in the 2023 Parkway Run & Walk, organized annually by CHOP on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to raise money for pediatric cancer research.Read moreJessica Griffin / Staff Photographer

    The Morning Newsletter

    Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter

☀️ It’s a scorching September Sunday. Temps will reach 93, so keep your water and sunscreen handy.

Today marks the beginning of a possible record-breaking heat wave, and it’s disrupting the first days back to school for some students.

Our main story follows a Montgomery County family bringing their fighting spirit in the battle against a rare hereditary disease that predisposed some of them to cancer at a young age.

— Paola Pérez (@pdesiperez, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)

If someone forwarded you this email, sign up for free here.

Rylee Monahan has golf in her DNA — a passion she got from her father, Ryan, who went to college on a golf scholarship. But along with her athletic prowess, Rylee also inherited a rare and deadly disease.

It’s called Li-Fraumeni syndrome, which is caused by a mutation in a gene that normally works to prevent cancer. There is no cure.

Ryan Monahan has battled four types of cancer since boyhood. Both Rylee and her sister, Madison, have the genetic mutation.

Rylee, now 14 years old, was 9 when doctors diagnosed her with brain cancer. Since then, she’s developed two other types of cancer and endured many surgeries and dozens of rounds of radiation and chemotherapy.

Madison is in the clear. But her chances of getting cancer by age 40 are near 100%. “It kind of feels like you’re a time bomb,” said Madison, who turns 18 next month.

Garrett Brodeur, a pediatrician who runs the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Cancer Predisposition Program, said the idea is to get out ahead of any cancer, and emphasized the upside of detecting and treating a “grape-sized tumor” before it “becomes a grapefruit.”

It can feel scary, Madison said, but watching her family confront multiple cancers over the years has honed yet another trait: an indomitable spirit.

Later this month, the Monahans will participate in the 2023 Parkway Run & Walk, organized annually by CHOP on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to raise money for pediatric cancer research.

Continue reading about the Monahans’ push for doctors to use experimental treatment to save Rylee’s life on the way to the next big medical advance.

What you should know today

  1. Danelo Cavalcante, the convicted murderer who escaped from the Chester County Prison, was seen in Pocopson Township early Saturday morning, less than two miles from the prison he broke out of. The search for him was expected to continue Sunday.

  2. School is starting back up again, meaning likely cases of flu, colds, and COVID-19 are, too. At least this time around, health officials are working with three years of experience in mitigating COVID, while researchers have continued to develop vaccines to protect students against most viruses. Read more on what parents need to know.

  3. President Joe Biden will return to Philadelphia Monday morning to celebrate Labor Day. It marks the seventh time Biden has come to the city this year and at least the 14th since he took office in January 2021.

  4. About 1.2 million Peco electric customers will see their bills decrease this month as electric supply prices return to pre-June levels.

  5. The Marshalls department store at Snyder Plaza in South Philly is closing after 17 years, marking the second Marshalls location to close in the city this year. The store is expected to have its final day on Dec. 9.

  6. For 30 years, a memorial to Nazi collaborators sat largely unnoticed just outside Philadelphia. Now it’s drawing outrage.

  7. The Mütter Museum has launched a new searchable online database of its collection of historical medical equipment and anatomical specimens that will be free to researchers and the public alike.

  8. In a summer when the Southwestern United States and the world set records for heat, the summer of 2023 in Philadelphia was quite exceptional in another respect.

🎤 Now I’m passing the mic to my colleague Tony Wood.

The Brandywine Valley, which captured the artistic sensibilities of the Wyeths, is one of the region’s most celebrated scenic venues.

And the creek that defines it is among the most hazardous. In fact, in 101 years of recordkeeping, it has experienced 146 floods, according to data from the Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center. And the tide isn’t turning: Of those, 55 occurred in the first two decades of the 21st century as extreme rains continue.

The worst of them all came two years ago with the remnants of Ida. An unprecedented, “eye-popping” torrent of water rushed past the gauge near the Brandywine Museum at Chadds Ford, said Gerald Kauffman Jr., director of the University of Delaware Water Resources Center. The 21-foot crest beat the old record by a full 4 feet — and flood stage by 12 feet.

Ida was a wake-up call for the watershed, and the center and Chester and Delaware Counties are participating in a nine-month study to identify all the trouble spots and figure out what to do about them to tame the flooding.

One thing is all but certain: They won’t stop the rains.

Continue reading about how the efforts to protect the Brandywine are about to escalate.

❓Pop quiz❓

September ushers in the season for pawpaws, one of the Philadelphia region’s sweetest natural treats.

Why are pawpaws considered rare?

A) They can only grow in Pennsylvania.

B) The harvesting process is very dangerous.

C) They bruise easily, don’t transport well, and have a short shelf life.

D) They cost a pretty penny — as much as $15 per pound.

Think you know? See if you remember from this week’s Outdoorsy newsletter.

🧩 Unscramble the anagram 🧩

Hint: Go with the flow

ALARD REVIEWER

Email us if you know the answer. We’ll select a reader at random to shout out here. Cheers to Maureen Bierhoff who correctly guessed Friday’s answer: Candy Lady.

Photo of the day

🎶 This Sunday, we’re nibblin’ on a sponge cake, watchin’ the sun bake: “Wastin’ away again in Margaritaville / Searchin’ for my lost shaker of salt. 🎶 May Jimmy rest in peace.

👋🏽 Enjoy the long weekend. This newsletter will take a break for a few days, so expect Taylor back in your inbox on Wednesday. Take care!