Newton Falls, Ohio is often thought of as an idyllic small town. Everyone knows everyone, and everyone helps everyone. That is certainly the case recently. Two young men, Brayden Greathouse and Spencer Sabo recently developed cancer. As you can imagine, this takes a huge physical and emotional toll on the boys and their families. From affording the treatments, to getting the gentlemen to the treatments while still managing to pay the bills and continue the family life, life has been everything but normal for these two families. But citizens of Newton Falls, and the surrounding area have once again pulled together to help two of their own.
Brayden Greathouse is a 16-year-old student at Mahoning County Vocational School, specializing in Culinary Arts. He is a member of M-Vac Football and wrestles for Jackson Milton High School. He helps coach youth football.
Late last year he began to experience hip pain. On December 26, 2024 he underwent an MRI for it. Within 3 hours, the doctor called from Akron Children’s Hosptial. Preliminary diagnosis was Lymphoma, due to a large mass in his hip. The lad then underwent 27 biopsy procedures leading to the diagnosis B-Cell Leukemia. He then had to have surgery to place a port under his skin, for chemotherapy treatments. He started chemo treatments on December 30. Since then, he has weekly chemo treatments in Akron. He also received a spinal infusion. A nurse was sent to his house to give him shots three days a week. He also has a chemo pill daily. That’s quite a lot of chemo!
He shaved his head after the chemo began. Some of his friends also shaved their heads in support of him! His outlook is holding up positive. His mother, Katie Desavigny, shared that Brayden got to go outside twice this past week, and was able to play in the yard with his brother, Landon. A nice moment of normalcy through all of this. His family is right behind him and supporting him in any way they can.
The next phase of his treatment will begin on April 7. He will be in the hospital for 3 days, and on a pump for 27 days. The weeks will be filled with appointments almost every day.
The following treatment phase is scheduled to begin on May 7, if everything goes as planned. He has had blood and platelets as his RBC counts get low.
His family isn’t alone in their unwavering support.
* Victoria Smith was shaving heads in honor of Brayden on March 15 for Saint Baldric’s. (This event usually culminates in both monetary and hair donations for Cancer patients.) Ms. Smith is also heading to Indiana to participate in the St. Jude Hero 5K in his honor.
* Small businesses in town and in North Jackson have had fundraising events for him, including the American Legion, VFW, AMVETS, Sam’s Pizza, Broken Leaf, Fieldview Acres Mercantile and 534 Cafe.
* Dinner was hosted at the VFW on March 1. Food donations came from Subway, Westfalls in Lake Milton, Sam’s Pizza, Ianozone’s in Champion, Maggie’s Donuts and Mahoning Valley Vocational Culinary School. This event was so well attended that they ran out of food…three times! Each time, citizens and businesses stepped up and got more! People from Newton Falls and North Jackson jumped right in the kitchen and helped.
* Cafe 534 hosted and sponsored a Bar Crawl on March 18. It started at 534, then went to the VFW on Arlington, the ChitChat lounge on Center, Amvets on Broad, Faces on Broad, and ended at Riverview on River Road. It cost $15 to register, $20 with a commemorative chip. The plan was to stay at each location, enjoying the ambience and camaraderie as well as food and drink specials, and walk as a group onto the next location. Faces even hosted members of Celtic Rush, a local Irish traditional band. Perfect for the day before St. Paddy’s Day.
This event was able to raise over $4,000 dollars for the family according to Jason Matthews, who coordinated the crawl. There is a Facebook page dedicated to it, Newton Falls St. Patrick’s Day Bar Crawl. Check it out and see the smiling faces!
* There is a fundraising dinner scheduled at Vinnies Restaurant for this coming Saturday, March 29. Cocktail hour and hors d’oevres at 5:00, dinner buffet at 6:00.
Spencer Sabo and his family have seen a similar outpouring of support from the area. Spencer is the only child of Suzanne and Anthony Sabo. He is fifteen years old and an active athlete attending Newton Falls High School. He is a running back for the football team and is in track. He also plays basketball.
In December of 2024, this young man’s life was profoundly changed. He was going to the doctor for a cold or sinus infection. (We’ve all been there, especially in this harsh winter, and we tend to just muddle through knowing that we will be better in a few days.) That was not the case for Spencer. On the morning of December 26, Spencer hurt too much to put on his shirt. His family took him to Mercy Hospital, then St. Joe’s and finally to Akron Children’s Hospital. They found a mass in his chest, right next to his heart. This made fluid hard to drain, amongst other difficulties. He has since been diagnosed with T-Cell Lymphoma/Blastic Leukemia.
He is in treatment now. Wednesdays through Saturdays he gets a huge shot. He takes a chemo pill, daily. His mother, Suzanne, has had to change her schedule to accommodate his treatment schedule for the shots. She is thankful to have a position that is flexible! Spencer misses his friends and being in school.
His outlook is positive. He will have a break from treatment during April and May, then more chemo in June and July. He is currently attending school online but hopes to be back in person the coming Fall.
The good people of the Newton Falls area have also been very supportive of Spencer.
* Faces Lounge hosted a dinner provided by Spencer’s coaches. They held a reverse raffle and sold #Spencer Strong bracelets.
* Downtown merchants each have provided support. Fieldview Acres sold hearts to raise money. Ron from Glass Act made green stained-glass ribbons. Broken Leaf also had hearts. KK Market provided subs and soup for fundraising events.
* Workers at Tiger’s Den Pizza have donated their tips to help!
* Sam’s Pizza sold red and green ribbons to raise funds.
* The Iron Forge Gym will be coordinating a Sabo Strong fundraiser on Saturday, April 12 from 1:00pm to 8:00pm. This event will include raffle baskets,and a Push/Pull Strongman contest. Food and drink will be provided and donations happily accepted.
Amazingly, Kate and Suzanne met each other at the hospital while their sons underwent treatment. They have since become each other’s rock.
Suzanne wants to give a special shout out to Rachel Rankin, NFH school principal, for her support going above and beyond. The school sold shirts that were made at the school.
Both Kate and Suzanne are thankful to the community for their outpouring of love and support. Also, they both stress how awesome Akron Children’s Hospital doctors and staff have been.
If you want to help, please keep an eye out on the Newton Falls Facebook page, as many people and places continue to have fundraisers for the boys.
