Cambridge Jeffersonian Article

Southeastern Med group going to benefit concert for cancer research

What started out as a fun idea for a Christmas album has turned into a serious labor of love. A benefit concert to raise money for cancer research will be held by the

“A Christmas to Cure Cancer” Band on December 3 rd at the Dublin Clarion Hotel in Columbus. Members of the former band “Aereon”, a group of musicians that played together in New Philadelphia and surrounding areas during the 1980’s, will perform.

A group from Southeastern Med will be taking a tour bus to Columbus for this event and seats are available for anyone who is interested. For information about the concert or reservations on the tour bus, contact Becky Wheeler, Cancer Registrar at Southeastern Med, 439-8156.

A few years ago, Mark Puskarich of Westerville, formerly of the Piedmont area, began thinking about reuniting the band and possibly recording some Christmas music in the form of a CD. He thought it would be a great way to share their music once again with family and friends. Mark originally introduced the idea to Cody Romshak of Piedmont and Lorne and Corrina Van Fossen of Urichsville.

Once the idea received support, former Aereon member and now professional Christian artist Dave Clo of Nashville, Tenn., was contacted. Dave had his own recording studio in Nashville and his years of experience would contribute greatly to the project. In December 1998, Cody, Mark and Lorne went on a shopping trip to purchase upgraded recording equipment at CA House of Music in St. Clairsville and plans went forward to create the CD in Cody’s studio in Piedmont.

However, a little over a year into the project, in early 2000, Lorne the guitar player for the band received some devastating news that made the band stand back and re-evaluate their reasons for recording the CD. Lorne was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Lorne, his wife Corrina and the other band members were, of course, very shocked at the diagnosis and the CD project slowed as they all pulled together to support Lorne during his year-long battle with cancer.

Soon after Lorne was on the road to recovery, Mark and Cody were at a Christmas party when Mark presented the idea to Cody to make the CD as professional as possible and sell it to raise money for cancer research.

Some time later, the title “A Christmas to Cure Cancer” was conceived and The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute in Columbus had partnered with them on the project.

This was all done as a tribute to Lorne and as their contribution in the fight against cancer. The CD would consist of Christmas and seasonal music and contain diverse musical styles including blues, country, folk and even heavy metal. The four original “Aereon” members participated in the recording as well as contributions from Rob Ragsdale, Lois Puskarich and Janet Gallucci.

Chris Dauphin of Nashville sat in on the three songs recorded in Dave Clo’s home studio over Labor Day weekend 2001. In addition, Lorne’s wife Corrina who is a member of Acoustic Grace and Sweet Harmony sang several songs for the CD, as well as fellow vocalists Julie Lucas and Michele Clay, all members of the Sweet Harmony group.

Thus, with contributions from all of these talented artists, “A Christmas to Cure Cancer” was born.

Now, a couple of years later the group has produced a new CD “A Christmas to Cure Cancer 2” that is available for a donation of $15. Net proceeds from the CD benefit the American Cancer Society “Relay for Life.”

The new CD is available at Cambridge Regional Cancer Center, Pavlov Music Center, Riesbeck’s Food Markets, A Taste of Ohio, Cambridge Classic Ford, Country Bits and Pieces and Southeastern Med.