Council Rock Grad, 26, Battling Cancer A Third Time

HOLLAND, PA — A 26-year-old Holland native who has battled aggressive cancer since high school is fighting once again after needing surgery that removed one-third of a lung.

Meanwhile, friends of Chase Berlin are rallying around him and trying to help with the expenses another costly round of cancer treatment will bring.

Berlin, who now lives in Warminster and graduated from Council Rock South in 2013, got out of the hospital on Monday after having a piece of one lung removed because two masses were found.

It's just the latest round in a years-long cancer fight for the East Stroudsburg University grad.

He was diagnosed with testicular cancer on St. Patrick's Day in 2011, when he was still in high school. It spread to his lungs and he spent the rest of the year in and out of hospitals, undergoing surgery and chemotherapy before the cancer finally went into remission.

It came back in 2016, when he was a student at East Stroudsburg, requiring another surgery — this one at Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

To View The GoFundMe Fundraiser For Chase Berlin, Click Here

It was around that time that Dominick Carlucci met Berlin, who was president of the Sigma Pi fraternity chapter at the college. He became Carlucci's big brother in the fraternity and it is Carlucci who has launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help with his most recent treatments.

"Chase was the nicest, most caring, generous, educational and most born leader that I have ever come across," Carlucci wrote on the fundraiser's Web page.

He said that, despite the cancer surgery and treatments, Berlin still graduated on time with a degree in education science, with a concentration in pre-therapeutic science.

"Chase is the strongest, most non-complaining man I know," Carlucci wrote.

But, two days before Christmas, masses in his lung got so big that doctors decided they needed to remove the middle third of his right lung to prevent the spread of tumors. He was at UPenn until Monday and doctors are now deciding whether he'll need more treatment.

Chatting with Patch, Berlin said he tries to take things one day at a time. But, he admits, this round has been tough.

"I am in the worst pain I have ever been in in my entire life," he said. "I have five wounds, all on my right side and back. I have had no feeling in my abdomen due to a nerve block from surgery. I've been hacking blood ... . I am on so many medications, about 12 or so.

"I'm not a crier, or much of an emotional person. But I have not stopped crying."

The tears, he says, are for two reasons. One, obviously, is the pain. But the other, he said, is gratitude.

Since Carlucci started the fundraiser on Saturday, more than 200 people have donated to help pay Berlin's medical bills. By Wednesday afternoon, it had raised $11,204 of a $50,000 goal.

"If I was asked a week ago how many people cared for me, I might have said five or so," he said. "Now, I know it's hundreds of people. I have tried to live my entire life to be kind to everyone I meet and it finally has come full circle — with people I have not spoken to in years reaching out to me wishing me well and supporting me.

"I am beyond blessed to have amazing friends and family by my side."

Berlin said his job does not offer family medical leave or short-term disability, so he's having to use the 100 hours of paid time off he has for the entire year. Once that's gone, he said, he'll have to either go back to work or go without a paycheck.

He also said his health insurance barely pays for treatment at UPenn, but that he believes the hospital is "the best in the world" and felt it was where he needed to be.

Even so, on the GoFundMe page, Carlucci writes that Berlin isn't the type to ask for help. So he did it for him.

"Chase is one of the best friends I have ever had, and all I am asking for is to help my friend and his family finally beat this cancer for good," he wrote.

Meanwhile, Berlin says he's trying hard to stick to that one-day-at-a-time mantra.

"I can't look ahead and I try my very best not to dwell on hardships of the past," he said. "I never thought I was strong, but everyone I talk to seems to see me that way and it really has made me think that I am a stronger person than I give myself credit for, going through so much in my life."

To View The GoFundMe Fundraiser For Chase Berlin, Click Here

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