PAY IT FORWARD: Program gives cancer patient trip to Dean Martin Festival

By Debbie Wachter Morris
New Castle News

May 08, 2008 11:31 am

— Michael Sackin crooned to Dean Martin’s music all his life — until throat cancer robbed him of his ability to sing.
The 63-year-old Skyview Towers resident now talks through a voice prosthesis implanted in his throat, and although he no longer can sing along, he vows he always will be an avid fan of the late, great Martin.
It was Sackin’s lifelong love of Martin’s music and comedy routines that led him to his wife, Diana, seven years ago. They went on a blind date to see a Dean Martin impersonator in Ellwood City and fell in love.
Now recovering from a fifth throat cancer operation and removal of his larynx, Sackin will celebrate his sixth wedding anniversary with his wife by traveling via limousine to Martin’s birthplace in Steubenville, Ohio, to attend the Dean Martin Festival.
A proposal to send the couple to the event was chosen as the winning entry in the Pay It Forward contest sponsored by Hartman and conducted by the New Castle News .
The entry was submitted by Sandra DelPrincipe of Norwood Avenue.

BIG SURPRISE
The Sackins learned about the trip Tuesday when Hartman and two New Castle News staffers went to their home to present the $2,000 prize money to DelPrincipe.
“Mike can’t believe what’s happening,” his overjoyed wife said. “We’re so thankful. I’ve never ridden in a limo. We’ll feel like kings and queens.”
The only person more thrilled and appreciative is Sackin himself. He saw Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra live in concert in Las Vegas many years ago, he said, and has always wanted to attend the tribute to his biggest music idol.
The news of the Steubenville trip came after more than five months of suffering last year when he was fed through a tube.
The Sackins avoided social and family gatherings during that time, so the sight and smell of food would not torment him.
Sackin, who loves to cook, makes his own pizza and spaghetti sauce, but was prevented from doing so while he was sick.
When he saw watermelon on sale at Sav-A-Lot this week, his mouth watered. He bought one because he loves it so much and didn’t have any last summer, Diana explained.
“The worst part was when I couldn’t eat,” he said. “I hope I never have to get like that again. If I do, I will pray for God to take me.”

HOW THEY MET
Sackin was first diagnosed with cancer in the right side of his throat in 2001 and had two operations to remove it. He was to undergo a third surgery when he and Diana met.
Her cousin, Cathy Procopio, worked with Sackin at the Hill View Manor nursing home and had arranged for them to meet.
Diana had been twice widowed. Sackin was never married.
“I prayed that God would send me the chance to love someone again, and it was Michael that he sent,” she said, as Sackin nodded. They were married on June 15, 2002.
Since then, they have struggled together through Sackin’s bouts with cancer, facing medical bills and other financial tribulations.
Sackin was diagnosed again with throat cancer in March last year — this time on the left side. He underwent a more complicated surgery a month later and spent three weeks in Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburgh. Doctors had removed cancer from his voice box, along with several lymph nodes from his neck. They also found a different cancer in his thyroid. That was also when he endured the feeding tube.
“We got through it with God’s help,” his wife said.
Sackin underwent thyroid surgery Oct. 18, and doctors removed his larynx. He was able to eat and swallow again, and now breathes through an opening in the throat called a stoma.
Follow-up radiation in January required four trips to Shadyside Hospital.
His outlook now is “pretty good,” Diana Sackin said, adding his next checkup in Pittsburgh will be the day after they return from Steubenville.

SACKIN’S LIFE
Before his illness, Sackin had worked all of his adult life. He was a road worker for Gennaro Pavers for three years. He worked at Shenango China as a packer for 25 years and was secretary of its steelworkers union.
Most recently, he worked at Hill View Manor in laundry, housekeeping and the kitchen, until he went on disability for cancer, depression and anxiety.
Diana Sackin quit her job with a home health care group so she could take care of her husband during his illness.
Now that he is recovered, the couple plans to participate in the cancer survivors walk at the Relay For Life May 17 at Neshannock High School.
A Mohawk High graduate, Sackin lived in Hillsville for 57 years. He moved to New Castle in 2002 when he married Diana.
His mother, Helen, still lives in Hillsville with his aunt, Maggie Kelty, and his dog, Vegas.
Sackin belongs to St. Lawrence Church, where he is an usher. He is a lifelong member of the St. Lucy Society and participated in its annual Labor Day celebrations. In 2006, the society honored him at the 101st anniversary of its street procession in Hillsville.
Sackin has a collection of Dean Martin’s records and videos of Dean Martin roasts and the Rat Pack, which includes Martin, Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.
“All my life Dean Martin has been my favorite,” Sackin said.
“I used to sing all of his songs when I was 20 or 25, and people said I sounded like him. That was after a few drinks at the St. Lucy Club.”
His favorite song is “Welcome to My World.”

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