Ep. 96: Fighting for the Future: Childhood Cancer Awareness with the Phillies

This week’s episode features two compelling stories of strength and perseverance in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month.

In our first segment, we remember Corey Phelan. At 19, Corey achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player, signing with the Phillies organization. His dream, though, and his life were cut short by pediatric cancer just after his 20th birthday in 2022. His legacy, however, lives through his family’s foundation, Corey’s Promise, which helps other families offset the financial burdens they endure during their child's cancer diagnosis. 

In our second segment, we speak with 20-year-old Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, an accomplished singer with a proven track record. In fact, hers is the voice you hear singing “God Bless America” at the top of this episode. At age 17 Elisha was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Swyer Syndrome. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Swyer Syndrome is characterized by the failure of the sex glands – in this case, her ovaries – to develop fully, leaving only functionless scar tissue, and a 30 percent risk of developing tumors from that scar tissue – which is what happened to Elisha.

Guests:
Chris Phelan, Corey Pheland's father and co-founder of Corey's Promise
Dickie Noles, retired MLB player and Phillies advisor
Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, professional singer and cancer survivor

Carol Vassar, host/producer

Views expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views of the host or management.

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Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to Well Beyond Medicine, the world's top-ranked children's health podcast produced by Nemours Children's Health. Subscribe on any platform at Nemourswellbeyond.org or find us on YouTube.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Each week, we're joined by innovators and experts from around the world exploring anything and everything related to the 80% of child health impacts that occur outside the doctor's office. I'm your host, Carol Vassar. And now that you're here let's go.

Music:

Let's go. Well beyond medicine.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

God bless America, my home sweet home. God bless America, my home sweet home.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

That's twenty-year-old singer and cancer survivor Elisha Rodriguez-Ford belting out her acapella rendition of God Bless America before a sold-out crowd as the Philadelphia Phillies hosted the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park during Major League Baseball's 2024 childhood cancer awareness night on September 1st. Elisha's story is as compelling as it is inspiring, and it's coming up shortly.

First, though, let's talk about left-handed pitcher Corey Phelan. At 19, he achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a professional baseball player, signing with the Phillies organization. His dream, though, and his life were cut short by cancer just after his 20th birthday in 2022. His legacy, however, lives through his family's foundation, Corey's Promise, which helps other families offset the financial burdens they endure during their child's cancer diagnosis.

I had the chance to talk with Corey's father, Chris, about his son, his time with the Phillies, and that legacy. Joining the conversation was retired Phillies pitcher and current team advisor Dickie Noles, with whom Corey had a special bond. For Phillies fans, Noles holds a special place alongside other Phillies legends like Larry Bowa, Garry Maddox, Pete Rose, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Tug McGraw, and manager Jim Frey. All were members of the Phillies first World Series Championship team in 1980. It was a series that saw Noles throwing what teammate Schmidt called "the greatest brushback in World Series history," a high inside fastball. So inside that nearly clocked future hall of famer George Brett of the Kansas City Royals.

1980 World Series Clip:

Two strikes on Brett. Down he goes. There's a message right there. Here comes Jim Fry out. There's a message. Jim Fry is out right now. He is really upset. He is really upset. Two strikes, no balls, and he really low-bridged him.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Today, Dickie Noles has his eyes on young developing players just like Corey Phelan, dispensing wisdom and experience as they make their way in a demanding profession. Our conversation, though, begins with Corey's dad, Chris, recalling his son's lifelong fascination with baseball.

Chris Phelan, Corey's Promise:

Corey was a young man who fell in love with baseball at the age of two years old, and his dream was to play professional baseball his entire life. He continued to work hard throughout his younger years in high school, and upon graduating from high school in 2020, he was signed in August of 2020 by the Philadelphia Phillies as a left-handed pitcher. It was during COVID, so there was no spring training that year, but right after September, late September, they opened up instructs and he went down to Clearwater and he started playing professional baseball for the Phillies.

In his second year, spring of 2022, he had called in March and said he wasn't feeling great. We were trying to figure some things out. I told him he needed to go see the trainers and he wanted to stay out of the training room as much as possible. He finally went into the trainer's room, and they were sending him on to a cardiologist because he was complaining of an elevated heart rate. The day he was supposed to go see the cardiologist. He passed out in the shower and the ambulance rushed to his hotel room at the time and took him to the hospital and they had found a nine-inch mass on his chest that was later diagnosed first as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

When he was first diagnosed with cancer, we came up into the room and he said, "Dad, what did the doctor say?" And I said, "Oh, they spoke to you in the recovery room. You don't remember bud?" He said, "No, I don't remember talking to anybody. What did they say?" And I said, "It's cancer." And he said, "Are they sure?" I said, "They're sure." He said, "It's all right. God has me." Those were his first words after he was first learned that he had been diagnosed with cancer at 19 years old playing professional baseball. I don't know if those would've been my first words at his age.

He was being treated at MSK up in New York in Manhattan, and after the treatment started, the mass was melting very quickly, but his white blood cell count was through the roof every day. So they started to run more tests and he wound up having T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia that he battled for six months. And six months from pretty much the day he was diagnosed, he passed away, actually here in Philadelphia. He was doing a T-cell trial treatment that had failed in late September, early October, and he passed away on October 12th. But his promise was to make the major leagues, and we were in the hospital one day, and he said, "Dad, I'm going to make the major leagues. I'm going to make a lot of money, but the money's not going to be for us. It's going to be for these families that I see struggling every day here at the hospital because it's not fair that they can't always be here for their children while they're here in the hospital. They're leaving to go to work."

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

He was 20 years old?

Chris Phelan, Corey's Promise:

He had just turned 20. He turned 20 on July 3rd, but this was about June. He had said he had made this promise, so he was just going to turn 20. He said, "It's not fair that these families with these young children that they aren't able to stay with them. This is going to be what I want to do when I make the major leagues, and I'm going to make it, Dad." If he would've stayed healthy, I think he would've made it, and his promise would've been fulfilled by him.

A month after he'd passed, Christie, who is my wife, she said, "There's no way we're not going to start this foundation in his memory." And she came up with a name. We were throwing different names around it, and she was like, "Corey's Promise." And I said, "I love it." We all loved it, the whole family. Here we are. We'll be two years in November. It will be our second year of this foundation, and we've raised $550,000 to help over 100 families in a short period of time.

We have a very nice relationship with the Ronald McDonald House in the greater New York City metro area. We have a Corey's Promise room, and we also have a Corey's Promise cart that goes around to some of the pediatric hospitals in New York that do not have Ronald McDonald houses attached to them, but Ronald McDonald has this cart, and we now have donated a big portion of money to help those families there just because that was his wishes.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Well, I'm very sorry for your loss. It's very difficult, I'm sure, to have lost your son, but his legacy is living on through this foundation. Dickie, I wanted to ask you to tell me about Corey. You worked with him here with the Phillies?

Dickie Noles, retired MLB Phillies pitcher:

Well, I was an employee assistance professional at the time that he was diagnosed with cancer. We had the spring training that was pushed back that year into April, and so I had went home, and I landed and came back to the ballpark, and one of our clubhouse guys, Joe Syonar, told me about Corey. So my first response was, "I'm going to see him." And he said, "No, right now they don't want anybody to go see him." So I knew it was bad if they didn't want anybody to go see him. So I said, "What's going on?" He told me, and I'd worked with cancer kids for many years as far as just being a guy that would come and go to Disney World with the Sunshine Foundation. But I'd seen so many kids beat cancer, and I heard about what he had, and I thought, he'll beat this, he'll be fine.

And then, when I went to the ballpark a couple of days later, I noticed the impact that he had. I think he had the biggest impact in a short period of time, even before the cancer. And this will illustrate that because everybody was so upset. We've had kids who get cancer before, we've had kids diagnosed before, we've had kids that had other ailments that were life-threatening. But the impact that Corey had was a little different. Everybody was so upset at the ballpark. And as an EAP, it's my job to try to go around and settle people down. And I kept thinking to myself, I was going, how does this kid have that big of an impact on an organization just basically shutting down?

And I'd met Corey in instruction league, and he called his dad one day, and he said, "Who's Dickie Noles?" And he goes, "You got to ask him about the knockdown pitch." Because I told stories and Corey, I knew Corey. I'd sit on the bench with him, and he came into the ballpark the next day and said, "Tell me about George Brett." I said, "I ain't going to talk about George Brett. Let's talk about some better players. I'll tell you how to become a major leaguer." And there was a couple of players that said, "He's going to become a major leaguer. He's going to will himself." I realized that he had this desire and this dream that we all have, and I also realized he had a little something else, and that's a testament to Christie and Chris; he had character.

Most of the guys that talk about Corey, they'll use three things to describe him. Number one, they'll always talk about his humbleness and they'll talk about his caring. He cared for others more than himself. And it was quick to find that out that he was that way. And then the other thing is they always said he had humor. He always had good humor and he liked to play practical jokes on people.

So I got to know Corey from being an EAP and seeing him on the field, and I really got to know him when we played the Cincinnati Reds up here, and I'd been in contact with him, but we all pray for someone like that. But my real contact started listening to other players asking me all the time, "Have we heard anything about Corey?" And I would hear them talk about Corey. And I think he was the most respected player for a year and a half career. And Darren Daulton, you know that name? Darren Daulton was probably one of the guys that I thought was the most popular Philly player ever until I met Corey. And Corey somehow changed a whole culture around here.

I don't know if you recall the World Series when we played two years ago. We played the Houston Astros. Kyle Schwarber and the team dedicated their season to Corey. And I think Chris would speak on this better because he was there. They brought him up when Joe Girardi was still the manager and they brought him to New York. What happened in that room was magical. They loved him forever. And then Topper Thomson became the manager and they took him back to New York. And so he was here for a four-game series against Cincinnati. We hadn't been playing very well. We were struggling, and we won those four games and three against the Pirates, and all of a sudden now, we came out of nowhere to be a playoff team. But the interesting thing was Kyle Schwarber, in the headlines of the paper, said, "We're going to dedicate our season to him." I believe that's what it said.

Chris Phelan, Corey's Promise:

And also said, "We think about him every day."

Dickie Noles, retired MLB Phillies pitcher:

And we think about him every day. We have this guy by the name of Larry Bowa. Pretty popular Philadelphia Philly player, shortstop, who I played with. And so Bowa walks into the day they were here playing Cincinnati, Chris and Christie, and the family's up there. Corey's sitting in the box, and Bowa walks in and goes, "Who's that?" And I said, "That's Corey." He goes, "Who's Corey?" And I told him, and they became like this. He changed.

I'm just going to say something Larry would tell you. He changed Larry's life in many ways, in a positive way. He's changed my life. But I think if you went to the minor leagues and talked to the 159 players down there, he had an impact on, but his impact, as you stated earlier, is even more large now because he's impacted so many kids and trying to help so many kids still to this day with pediatric cancer. He was special. I could have said it in one word: he was special.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Chris, when you hear Dickie talking about your son in this way and the support that the Phillies have given your family and Corey's legacy, how do you feel about all that?

Chris Phelan, Corey's Promise:

It's tremendous. I'll be honest with you, when Corey first got diagnosed, I thought it's a big organization, they're making changes at the minor league level. I really thought he was going to be released. I figured cause this is you're sick, you're not going to help them. And it was the total opposite. They continued to make him a part of this family and he felt it, and I'm going to use the line, I think he said, Corey never stopped fighting. His body just gave up on him. And that was in Dickie Noles' words, and he was there. The day that he passed at the hospital, Dickie and Larry were there, and it was emotional.

To see these two former baseball players that met my son for a short period of time, who are two great men, is a testament to my son. He just, Dickie said he was special. And my last words to him were, I apologized. I said, "I'm sorry, Bud. All these years I should have been teaching you. When you were teaching me." He was a special person. And not because he was our son. It just turned out to be that way. We're just grateful every day that we're able to keep his promise alive because this foundation is thriving in a short period of time, and it has nothing to do with anybody but him.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

What does a night like tonight mean to you, Chris?

Chris Phelan, Corey's Promise:

I grew up in New York, and I went to a million Yankee and Met games, and I didn't even know what month pediatric cancer was until my son was diagnosed with cancer. Now, we're trying to bring awareness of pediatric cancer, and September with pediatric cancer awareness month. And the Phillies were out in front of this. For them to continue to honor my son on the night that they had started way before he was even diagnosed, it just goes to show you what type of organization this is and the family first, and all those good things that you really do hear about this organization day in and day out. We're blessed to be a part of it. That's the way the Phillies are. They are family.

Dickie Noles, retired MLB Phillies pitcher:

We just came from the clubhouse. Robbie Thompson spent some time with them. He asked me last night, leaving the ballpark. They had just walked to their car. He goes, I said, "The Phelan family just walked across the street." He goes, "Oh my God, you got to bring them in. I want to see them." And so we walked into the clubhouse, and everyone had these on, and they will wear them because they feel close to Corey.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

You're talking about the T-shirt?

Dickie Noles, retired MLB Phillies pitcher:

Yeah. And they had T-shirts, but I think that's something that I don't think you would see normally. But if Corey walked through that door right now, you would probably be attracted to him because he walked into a room, and he just commanded a room, just being an innocent, humble, great, godly kid.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Retired major league baseball pitcher Dickie Noles on Corey Phelan, the inspiration for Corey's Promise. We also heard from Corey's father, Chris. Learn more about the work of Corey's Promise at the link in the show notes for this episode.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford is clear. She doesn't want to be known only as the girl with cancer.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Once upon a time, I was just like you. Never let my extra (music fades)].

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Elisha is an accomplished singer with a proven track record. She's the 2022 winner in the high school category of the prestigious Marian Anderson Guild competition. And on this night, as you heard earlier, she thrilled a crowd of over 43,000 people with her rendition of God Bless America.

At 17, though, Elisha was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Swyer syndrome. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, Swyer syndrome is characterized by the failure of the sex glands, in this case, her ovaries, to fully develop, leaving only functionless scar tissue and a 30% risk of developing tumors from that scar tissue, which is what happened to Elisha. Yet she and her mother suspected something wasn't quite right with her health and development long before her diagnosis. Here's Elisha Rodriguez Ford.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Part of me always knew that something was kind of wrong from elementary school. I hadn't really fully developed as a young woman, and I got to high school, and I still hadn't gotten my menstrual cycle. As a 16-year-old, they always say there's something wrong if you don't get it by 15 or 16. So my mother took me to the doctors, and they thought everything was fine, but my mother knew. That mother's intuition and she quite literally refused to leave until we got a referral for a gynecologist.

From there, they found out that I had Swyer syndrome from multiple rounds of blood tests. And from finding out that I had Swyer syndrome, I had to get a double ovariectomy to get my ovaries removed before they became cancerous. Unfortunately for me, they had already become cancerous, and that led to me finding out that I had stage two ovarian cancer.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

At 16?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

I believe so, yes. At 16.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

How did you process that information? That's a lot to take on.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

It didn't fully hit me until maybe a month after. My mother knew before me, and when we went back to the hospital so they could tell me and tell me the procedure, the rundown of what was going to happen, they gave me the term improper cells, I believe it was, to soften the blow. So, in my mind, it hadn't fully hit me like, oh, I have cancer until a month later. I don't think it really hit me all too hard until I actually started chemotherapy, though.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Talk about your journey with cancer. What's that been like? Chemotherapy. What else?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

My journey with chemotherapy, it was a little bit of ups and downs. It felt like not going through a maze, but rather drawing out a maze. Seeing what dead ends there are, seeing what paths there are, going back to the start to see if there's something that I missed. And that ties into pretty much almost anything. Just certain detergent smells that would make me feel sick. The chemo definitely does mess with a person's body, and I believe everyone should have a go-to meal, certain foods that I knew that I could keep down, certain foods that I know would make me very sick.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

What was your go-to meal? I'm curious.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

My go-to meal after the chemo started taking effect on my body, and I started becoming sick with a lot of other meals. My go-to meal was a ham and cheese sandwich, American cheese, Sprite, and a bag of Lay's chips. Classic.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

That sounds yummy. How has your relationship been with your medical team? How have they supported you through all of this?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

My medical team was honestly amazing. I hope everyone who goes through chemotherapy has an amazing medical team. Mine was amazing because they didn't really talk about it. Because, as a cancer patient, we already know that we have cancer. We already know everything. So they would just come in, do the routine, talk to me as if I was a regular person, which I am. I just happen to be ill.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

You're a singer?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Yes. Yes, I am. I've been singing since before I can even remember. All the way back to elementary school actually.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

You're singing here tonight. I'm wondering what kind of a toll all of this has taken on your singing. Singing for those who are not singers, the full body engagement is there. How did it affect your singing? Did it?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

It definitely did. Once I went through chemo, my whole body just started to feel like absolutely nothing. I could barely get up from the bed. They gave me what I believe they called a white blood cell count shot, which was to increase my white blood cells. And that itself had some bad side effects on me where it would make my body so tense where just laying down and moving just the slightest inch would hurt every fiber of my body. So it was hard to get up, to speak, to drink, to pretty much do anything. Around that time, I wasn't talking to any of my friends. I wasn't even listening to music. So, it definitely took a big hit on my mental health.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

How did you emerge from that?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

When I would get back from the hospital, my aunt was taking care of me because my mother also had work, and we also have two cats at the house. And when we're gone for a week, somebody has to take care of the babies as we call them. So my aunt was there, and I believe she talked to my mom and noticed that something was wrong with me and noticed that once I got a little bit better and started to adjust, she set up a lesson for me with my vocal teacher, Miss Lori Constantine. I love you, Miss Lori. And I sang at my church. Not an actual church service, but we had the church for about an hour and a half, and I brought my music books. I didn't want to. I really didn't. But my mother knew that it was the right thing for me to do, and I started singing a bit. My voice, of course, was just a little bit hoarse from all the chemotherapy, but a couple of songs later, it felt like I was coming back to life.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

It sounds like music played a big role in all of this.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

It definitely did.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

What's your favorite kind of music?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Oh, my favorite kind of music. I listen to all genres. I believe my favorite kind of music to sing would probably be very soulful music, like theater, but my favorite genre of music may be pop or jazz. I really like jazz.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

You have your mother sitting here supporting you. Talk about the people, including your mom, who have supported you through all of this.

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Definitely my mother and my aunt, who is pretty much like a second mother to me. I really want to thank one of my best friends, Jenna. She would call every single day, not a day was missed. And if she didn't call me, she would call my mother and ask, "How is she doing? Is she doing okay?" Definitely my uncles and, of course, my cat Cooper. He was definitely a big part of helping my mental health.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

What does the future hold for you?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Right now, I'm just working. Nothing too special. I take opportunities as they come to me. Whenever I see God open a door for me, I always take it. I make sure to pray all the time, asking God to give me guidance. What I want to do? I want to do so many things, but the main things that to me are doing theater, being a professional volleyball player and a model. Those are the top three things that I feel call me the most.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

What have you learned about yourself through all of this?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

That I am so much stronger than I think. I'm so much more capable of things that I never thought I'd be capable of.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

If someone were to walk in here right now, newly diagnosed with cancer, a teenager, what would you say to them? What kind of support, words of support would you give them?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

As blunt as it may sound, I promise you it is not the end of the world. It is not the end of the world. You can still do everything that you want in life. Don't let this define you. Don't let this weigh you down. Because I feel like that's a big part of being a cancer kid. Sometimes, that's what people know you for. Like, oh, you're the girl that had cancer. Yeah, but I'm also captain of this team. I also did this. I also have this organization. I have this small business. And so I feel like that's what people tend to forget that, yes, we are cancer patients, yes, we are cancer survivors, but that's not all we are. And I feel like a lot of cancer patients don't like being defined by that.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

How would you define yourself?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

I would define myself as a very strong-minded, independent, very bright young woman who just loves love, honestly, all types of love, platonic, romantic. I'm a very caring person, and I feel like a lot of people forget that kindness is completely free.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Anything that you'd like to share about your experience that I haven't asked you about?

Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, singer and cancer survivor:

Off the top of my head, I feel like just not letting cancer get you down. It is completely okay to not be okay. We're all not okay at times in our lives, but we can't sit there. We cannot be there for too long because we will miss out on so much in our lives.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Elisha Rodriguez Ford is a professional musician based in Pennsauken, New Jersey.

Music:

Well beyond medicine.

Carol Vassar, host/producer:

Many thanks to Elisha Rodriguez-Ford, Chris Phelan, and Dickie Noles for joining us on the podcast. And thanks to you for listening.

On the horizon, we travel to Bridgeville, Delaware, Orlando, Florida, and Las Vegas, Nevada, to capture more patient stories and more stories about the 80% of factors that occur outside the doctor's office and affect children's health. We'd love to hear from you and what you'd like to hear covered next. 

Feel free to email us at producer@nemourswellbeyond.org. That's producer@nemourswellbeyond.org. Or leave us a voicemail on our website, nemourswellbeyond.org, where you can also join more than 20,000 other subscribers to the podcast and leave a review as well. That's nemourswellbeyond.org.

Our production team for this episode includes Cheryl Munn, Susan Masucci, Lauren Teta, Frank Faust, Amy New, and, for the Philadelphia Phillies, Michele DeVicaris. I'm Carol Vassar. Until next time, remember, we can change children's health for good, well beyond medicine.