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House display aids friend

Diane Keefer of Butler has cancer.

It recently was diagnosed as being worse than she thought and she told a co-worker at Boscov's at the Clearview Mall that she'd like to have additional treatments, but doesn't know where she would get the money.

So Carol Andryka of Kittanning stepped up to the plate to help her friend and co-worker.

Andryka decorated the interior of her own house using items she has collected over the years. She then opened the house to the public as a fundraiser.

"Diane is a single mom and when she heard in September that her stomach cancer had spread to her spine, she told me she just didn't know what she would do," Andryka said.

Keefer was first diagnosed with stomach cancer 2½ years ago and has been fighting ever since.

Andryka decorated the rooms in themes.

"I got out all of my Easter stuff, scarecrows and snowmen and then decorated around them," Andryka said. "I mean, some people who have seen it have said, 'Wow!'"

On display were more than 125 scarecrows and 125 snowmen, and on Oct. 23, 24 and 25, more than 180 people visited making free will donations and participated in a 50/50 raffle, raising more than $1,000.

Andryka said she may open the house again this month.

"I just want to do something to help," she said, adding that Keefer, who was recently released from Butler Memorial Hospital, hopes to visit the house this weekend.

HOW TO DONATE


If you would like to make a donation for Diane Keefer of Butler, who is fighting stomach and spinal cancer, please send a check to:

Diane Keefer Fund c/o Carol Andryka

114 Ping Wing Hollow Road

Kittanning, PA 16201

Make the check out to Carol Andryka with "for Diane Keefer" on the memo line.

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