Community Corner

Take a Bite Out of Cancer: Bark For Life of Cranberry is Saturday

Bring your four-legged friends to Zelienople Community Park and help fight cancer.

Besides his wife, there was someone else at Aaron Mohnkern’s side as he went through the unconventional chemotherapy treatments doctors prescribed to treat his rare form of cancer.

His dog.

“My oldest dog and Aaron, my husband, were two of a kind,” Jodie Mohnkern said. “He knew Aaron was sick; he just knew it. Dogs bring so much to the table as far as caregiving.”

Find out what's happening in Cranberrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

After a six-year battle with pseudomyxoma peritonei, which is incurable, Aaron Mohnkern died in January. He was 37.

“There are a lot of people who really didn’t know how sick he was, even on a bad day” Mohnkern said. “We tried to keep our normalcy and not let cancer steal anything away  from us.”

Find out what's happening in Cranberrywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Part of that normalcy was organizing the American Cancer Society Bark for Life of Cranberry, an annual event where dogs and their owners participate in a variety of dog-friendly events while raising money for cancer research.

Saturday will mark the third year for the event at Zelienople Community Park, and activities include a 1-mile walk, a tennis-ball-fetch competition, a doggie café with food and vendors, and more.

Mohnkern, who also is organizing the Relay for Life of Cranberry in July, said she got the idea for Saturday’s event while attending a leadership-training program through the American Cancer Society. One of the presenters there spoke of a successful Bark for Life in Pottstown.

Mohnkern, a dog lover who owns two Labrador retrievers, Rueben and Levi, and her “little guy,” a Yorkie named Tucker, was hooked.

“My two passions are fighting against cancer and dogs,” she said. “I was sitting in that session and I thought to myself, how can I not bring this back.”

That first year, Mohnkern said, the event raised $6,000 for cancer research. Last year, Bark for Life doubled that number, and Mohnkern hopes the event continues to grow.

“We’ve raised just under $20,000 in two years,” she said. “To be where we’re at right now in the economic times we’re in is huge, but we always want to do better."

Cancer research is a topic dear to Mohnkern’s heart. Without the breakthroughs in cancer research, she said, she wouldn’t have had Aaron as long as she did. Aaron participated in experimental treatments.

“Now, there is research and new technologies out there as far as treatment for this cancer,” she said. “We were able to be very aggressive with him.”

This is the first year Aaron won’t be by his wife’s side as she organizes the event. She misses him. A lot.

“Aaron was my right-hand man. He was my secretary,” Mohnkern said. “These are tough times just in life in general.”

She said that before he died, Aaron encouraged her to continue their quest to raise money for cancer research.

“Even when he passed, he said, ‘Jodie keep doing what you’re doing,’ ” she said. “That’s just the kind of guy he was.”

If you’re going:

When/Where:9 a.m. -- Community registration and preregistration check-in takes place at 9 a.m. The opening ceremony is at 10 a.m., and the dog walk begins at 10:15 a.m. The event will be at the Zelienople Community Park on S Division Street in Zelienople.

Why Go: Your participation supports programs, services and research by the American Cancer Society in Western Pennsylvania. There also will be a “Silent Bark” auction with a variety of baskets during the event.

Those who bring a donation of canned pet food for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society’s Ellie’s Pet Pantry automatically will be entered into a drawing for two tickets to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium plus a $15 Starbucks gift card.

There will be a “Top Dog of the Year” presentation for the dog that raised the most money or received the most pledges. That dog also will be featured on all of next year’s Bark for Life promotional materials.

Participants can register online or at the event.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here