Joseph Pandak and Lindsey Tippett Pandak hold their infant daughter, Elizabeth, at their Hamilton home.
By Nicole DiMentri
In 2001, at age 12, Lindsey Tippett was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. A little after a year from her diagnosis came the news that no parent wants to hear: Tippett had six months to live.
For seven years, she faced intensive chemotherapy and radiation. During this stretch, in June 2006, the Hamilton Post featured Lindsey as she defied the odds, living years past her six-month prognosis and continuing to fight her ailment.
She was 16 at the time, and had just attended her Junior Prom at Hamilton High School West. She was still undergoing excruciating treatments, but to take her mind off of things, she volunteered for blood drives and walkathons in order to raise money and awareness for many different types of cancer.
After her story ran, Tippett continued hitting milestones the doctors didn’t give her a chance of seeing. She graduated high school and began college, still facing treatments all the while.
Then, at 18, doctors gave Tippett incredible news. She was cancerfree.
While living at home, she attended Rider University, and earned bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and psychology. She began her teaching career as a long-term substitute teacher for two years in Marlboro School District. She moved on to a full-time job at Frank J. Dugan Elementary School in Marlboro, teaching first graders. She now will begin her third year at the school, this year as a fourth grade teacher.
“I love teaching, and I’m so happy I get to do that everyday,” she said.
This summer, Tippett celebrated her one-year anniversary with her husband, Josef Pandak, 32. They got married in 2014 on the Fourth of July in front of their friends and family in a huge wedding.
They’ve known each other for years.
“I always had the biggest crush on Joe since I was 13 years old, but he was 19 at the time, so I was just a kid,” she said. “He was my cousin’s best friend, and I was just the little kid cousin to him. We kept in touch, and when I was 21 we started dating and never looked back. He asked me to marry him, and at 25, we got married. He’s my best friend. It’s awesome.”
Two years ago was the last blood drive Tippett and her then-fiancé Pandak held at the Whitehorse Fire Company. They held the “Celebration of Life” blood drive right before their wedding to show how far she has come in the last 10 years. She hopes to volunteer at more blood drives in the future.
Yet another surprise came late in 2014 when she found out that she was pregnant. With all of the chemo and radiation, her doctors told her that she would be unable to have a child.
“It was just in my head that I could never have a child, so when I found out that I was pregnant, I was surprised to say the least!” she said.
She proved them wrong by giving birth to a healthy baby girl, Elizabeth “Ellie” Jane, on June 23.
Although she has been a little busy for the past 18 months, the now-Lindsey Pandak is ready to get back to normal. She said hopes to continue to expand her family and just simply live a happy life.
At 26, she still continues to be healthy and resides in Hamilton. After spending some time with her newborn Ellie, Mrs. Pandak will head back to school in October.
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