Sts. Philip and James School cancer fundraiser bolstered by teacher, cancer survivor

Like other schools in the Metuchen Diocese, students and faculty at Sts. Philip & James School hold various fundraisers to bolster operating expenses and advancement costs.

The Warren County school also supports the community by raising money toward the St. Luke’s University Health Network’s Cancer Center. The Pennsylvania-based hospital, which also owns facilities in New Jersey, including the former Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg, received more than $500 from the school community last fall toward St. Luke’s breast cancer program, according to Sara Siano, vice principal and advancement director.

This school year, one faculty member offered the Sts. Philip and James community her locks toward raising even bigger bucks toward beating cancer.

The school planned an assembly this month to mark the hair shaving of Maria Perna, whose generosity helped raise about $1,400 in donations by the time this story went to press, Siano said, making it the largest single cancer fundraiser. Hair stylist Shellie Murdock, from Art of Hair in Phillipsburg was donating her time to buzz Perna’s dark locks, according to Siano.

Going bald for a cause is nothing new for Perna, 49, a language arts teacher and reading specialist, who joined Sts. Philip and James for the 2023-24 school year. She did it for St, Baldrick’s Foundation, which also raises funds for people affected by childhood cancers.

Perna had finished her freshman year at Phillipsburg High School in June 1989 when she was diagnosed with a form of leukemia that affects white blood cells. The cancer starts in the bone marrow, the spongy tissue inside the bones where blood cells are produced, according to the Mayo Clinic website.

“When you go through cancer, it’s almost like a grieving process,” Perna said during a recent interview. “You go through the whiny; you get angry. And then you have to put your big girl pants on and get up and say, ‘This is what I was dealt, and this is what I have to do.”

The cancer diagnosis initially devastated the teenage Perna both medically and emotionally, but she has been cancer free since 1997. She said she is grateful for every day, but what Perna has accomplished is nothing short of miraculous in overcoming not just cancer.

Complications from her cancer treatments led to her dealing with another disease – avascular necrosis – which in her case, damaged bones in both her hips. She has had her hips replaced twice, among other medical issues.

Eventually, the resident of Easton, Pennsylvania, earned a college degree, got married, reared three daughters with her husband, Giovanni Perna, and has had careers in teaching and healthcare. She also has offered help and support to those who are struggling with cancer.

When she reached 20 years of being cancer free, Perna raised $4,000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She has also participated in a half-marathon, despite the replacement hips. “To come around the final bend and see my family waiting and cheering me on, I can’t tell you the feeling,” she said.

Her strong belief in God has sustained Perna through the trials of life.

“I felt God placed me in this path,” said Perna, a member of Phillipsburg’s St. Philip & St. James Parish.

“I don’t know what I would do without my faith,” she said. “When things are going wrong and I feel like God is testing me, I always say there is a reason for this.”

How would she use having her hair cut as a teachable moment? What advice does she give schoolchildren in her effort to spread cancer awareness?

Perna shows her left forearm, with a tattoo of a song title “No Day but Today” from the rock musical “Rent.”

“I think what children need to know, aside from cancer, is that the next day is not guaranteed,” she said. “I teach my kids I live by this.”

Her dark hair used to descend to her waist; she fretted when cancer caused her to lose much of it. But she’s still willing to part with what hair she has and go bald, if it can help someone else who is dealing with cancer.

“This is more important than me growing my hair,” she said.