First Posted: 4/9/2015
Members of the deQuevedo family were devastated when they heard the news. A 7-year-old shouldn’t have to deal with cancer.
Like most children his age, Jerry deQuevedo should have been playing baseball, riding his bike and frequenting the parks in Duryea. Instead, he was traveling back and forth to hospitals, fighting for his life.
Jerry was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer which attacks the lymph nodes, in 1979. He was given a 10 percent chance at survival – that was all he needed.
Jerry’s story was introduced to the Greater Pittston area in November 1996 when he was featured in the Sunday Dispatch’s Spotlight series. At the time, he was a senior at Temple University.
Now 43, Jerry went through two years of chemotherapy at the age of 7, while chemotherapy was still fairly new. There were no MRI machines, Jerry said, but he knew everything would be fine.
“I always had a very positive attitude through it and knew I was going to do well,” he said. “I always knew I was going to be OK. I kept going to school and did everything I had to. I’m a big believer in positive mental attitude.”
Jerry got much of his confidence from his parents. His mother, Lois, was a registered nurse while his father, Nestor, who passed away in 1981, worked for the Community Medical Center. His parents gave him the knowledge to get through this. And he did – but not without tragedy.
Just two weeks after his father’s death, Jerry’s cancer was in remission. Jerry continued to go for checkups until the age of 17. The cancer has not resurfaced.
“I really think that everyone is dealt the cards they are dealt,” he said. “It’s something you have to get over. To be honest, my mom was a very strong person and I didn’t have the option to let it beat me.”
Although some people might classify Jerry’s situation as lucky, he certainly doesn’t. He does admit, however, he did take more risks when faced with possible death.
Aftter buying a house in West Pittston a month before the flood of 2011, he watched seven feet of water make their way to the first floor.
“I’m not a lucky man,” Jerry laughed. “When you’re faced with possible death, maybe you’re not as afraid of failure. I don’t let the little stuff bother me anymore.”
He attended Holy Rosary School in Duryea before continuing his high school education at Scranton Prep.
The Duryea native then graduated from Temple University with a degree in biochemistry. After taking a shot at medical school, he decided to attend the New York Chiropractic School in Senaca Falls, New York from where he graduated in 2001. He worked at a chiropractic practice in Philadelphia from 2001 to 2004, then came home.
“There’s nothing like home. It’s a good profession and you get to help people with immediate satisfaction,” he said of the chiropractor business.
deQuevedo Chiropractic served the Greater Pittston area on Main Street in Avoca from 2004 to 2010 when the business moved to the Petro Plaza in Dupont. There, Jerry’s team offers chiropractic services such as physical therapy and muscle therapy, as well as state Department of Transportation physicals and drug screenings for truck drivers.
Jerry’s team includes chiropractors Dr. Joe Leonardi and Dr. Chris Yonky, both Greater Pittston natives.
“We all have had a similar upbringing and all grew up in the area,” Jerry said. “We are all very accessible to our patients.”
Jerry does have one problem in his practice, though — no one calls him “doctor.”
According to him, he knows many of his patients so well that he goes by “Jerry.”
“There’s no separation between me and my patients,” he said.
That lack of separation is evident, according to Sunday Dispatch readers. For the past three years, Jerry was named the “Best Chiropractor” in the Sunday Dispatch Best of Greater Pittston readers’ choice awards. Those certificates currently hang in his office in Dupont.
Jerry and his wife, Mara, have a 5-year-old daughter, Isabella. Outside his practice, she keeps him busy.
