Delaware

New Del. report highlights declining cancer rates and need for early detection

Published

1 year ago

November 3, 2024

New Del. report highlights declining cancer rates and need for early detection

“Yo no sentí ningún bulto. En realidad fue un chequeo que uno se hace en los senos y ahí detectaron, encontraron algo, vieron algo, hicieron la biopsia y era cáncer de seno en etapa 2,” ella dijo. “Las mujeres nos tenemos que hacer un chequeo cada año y yo dejé de hacerme el chequeo por cuatro años. Las mujeres siempre se tienen que estar tocándose [los senos] para saber si se siente algo. Yo no tenía nada, yo no me sentía nada y después de cuatro años me volví a hacer mi chequeo y ahí es donde encontraron que había que había algo.”

“I didn’t feel any lump. In reality, it was a checkup that one does on the breasts and there they detected, found something, they saw something, they did the biopsy and it was stage two breast cancer,” she said. “Women have to get a checkup every year and I stopped getting a checkup for four years. Women always have to touch [their breasts] to know if they feel something. I had nothing, I didn’t feel anything and after four years I had my checkup again and that’s where they found that there was something.”

Even though rates of breast cancer have remained steady, Soweto says many avoid screenings due to fear of bad news or the assumption that feeling well means they’re healthy. Being Latina, she pointed out that the lack of language support can also be a barrier and emphasized the importance of accessing available resources and support.

“Yo pienso que es más falta de información que otra cosa porque la ayuda está siempre, la ayuda está,” ella dijo.

“I think it’s more of a lack of information than anything else because help is always there, help is there,” she said.

After receiving support from Christiana Hospital in Newark, including taking part in various programs and resources for cancer patients, and undergoing chemotherapy and radiation, Sotelo has now been cancer-free for six years. She encourages everyone to love their bodies and prioritize regular checkups.

Health officials point to programs like Screening for Life as having helped reduce cancer rates. Since 1997, the program has provided eligible Delawareans with free access to essential cancer screenings. Through this program, qualifying individuals can receive mammograms, Pap and HPV tests, as well as screenings for prostate, colorectal and lung cancers when recommended by a doctor.

Just last year, the program saw a 13% increase in enrollment, marking its highest enrollment in six years.

“The Screening for Life program has been highly effective at connecting individuals who otherwise would not have access to routine cancer screening. Through its sister program, the Healthcare Connection, we’re also able to take those same individuals and connect them to a health home, where they receive access to Specialty medical services at a reduced rate based on income levels,” Hollinger said.

“[Do] not be intimidated by the test,” she added. “Some of these cancer screenings just take a few minutes to complete, but it could give you a lifetime of answers.”

Another comprehensive report is scheduled for publication in January 2025, detailing the clusters of various types of cancers, including breast, lung and colorectal cancers, across each county to provide a deeper understanding of their prevalence.

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Delaware

MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

Published

5 hours ago

January 9, 2026

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MERR responds to dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach

A dead humpback whale washed up near Bethany Beach on Jan. 8, according to the nonprofit Marine Education Research and Rehabilitation Institute.

The juvenile male was first seen Jan. 6, floating at sea about 2 miles off the Indian River Inlet, a MERR Facebook post said. The bloated 30-foot whale ultimately beached near a private community in the early afternoon of Jan. 8, the post said.

MERR is attempting to coordinate with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control to get equipment to move the whale out of the water and onto the beach to perform a necropsy, the post said. Right now, there isn’t enough information to determine a cause of death.

Delaware saw at least three dead whales last year, in the Indian River Bay, at Delaware Seashore State Park and at Pigeon Point. The first two were humpbacks, while the Pigeon Point whale was a fin whale.

A necropsy on the Delaware Seashore whale found blunt force trauma across its back, indicating it may have been struck by a ship, MERR Director Suzanne Thurman said.

Recently, on Jan. 4, a dead fin whale was found on the bow of a ship at the Gloucester Marine Terminal in New Jersey, which is located in the Port of Philadelphia on the Delaware River.

Shannon Marvel McNaught reports on southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Facebook.

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Delaware

Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

Published

18 hours ago

January 8, 2026

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Pa. man accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from Delco cemetery

A Pennsylvania man is accused of stealing more than 100 skeletons from a cemetery in Delaware County.

Jonathan Gerlach, 34, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, is charged with abuse of corpse, criminal mischief, burglary and other related offenses, Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse revealed on Thursday, Jan. 8.

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Between November 2025 and Jan. 6, 2026, 26 mausoleums and underground burial sites had been burglarized or desecrated at Mount Moriah Cemetery, which stretches from Yeadon Borough, Pennsylvania, to Philadelphia, investigators said.

As police investigated the thefts, they caught Gerlach desecrating a monument at the cemetery on Tuesday, Jan. 6, according to officials. Gerlach was taken into custody and investigators executed a search warrant at his home in Ephrata.

During the search, investigators recovered 100 human skeletons from Gerlach’s home as well as eight more human remains inside a storage locker, according to Rouse.

“Detectives walked into a horror movie come to life the other night guys,” Rouse said. “This is an unbelievable scene that no one involved – from myself to the detectives to the medical examiners that are now trying to piece together what they are looking at, quite literally – none of them have ever seen anything like this before.”

Rouse said some of the stolen skeletons are hundreds of years old.

“We are trying to figure out exactly what we are looking at,” Rouse said. “We quite simply at this juncture are not able to date and identify all of them.”

Rouse also said some of the skeletons are of infants and children.

“It is truly, in the most literal sense of the word, horrific,” Rouse said. “I grieve for those who are upset by this who are going through it who are trying to figure out if it is in fact their loved one or their child because we found remains that we believe to be months old infants among those that he had collected. Our hearts go out to every family that is impacted by this.”

Sources also told NBC10 the thefts are related to a similar case in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Investigators said they are looking at Gerlach’s online community — including his social media groups and Facebook page — to determine if people were buying, selling, or trading the remains.

Gerlach is currently in custody at the Delaware County Prison after failing to post $1 million bail. Online court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

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