Fraternity supports member battling cancer
By Shannon Sheehan | Published by Feb. 21, 2019
Lamotta and his fraternity brothers at Meet the Greeks on Jan. 31, 2019. Photos courtesy of Sigma Beta Tau.
At this semester’s “Meet the Greeks” on Jan. 31, fraternity Sigma Beta Tau gave a special speech dedicated to one of their members battling cancer, Anthony Lamotta.
Lamotta’s girlfriend explained to the crowd that he has what they thought was stage three but is now stage four metastatic malignant melanoma. She explained that she is striving to fundraise as much money as she can all while raising awareness for his case.
Lamotta is a senior at Kean majoring in information technology with a minor in computer security. Prior to attending college, Lamotta was concerned that he might not be able to connect with his peers due to him being antisocial. He decided to attend “Meet the Greeks” his freshman year to see what Greek Life was like and to try and get to know the students of Kean.
“When I went to ‘Meet the Greeks’, I ended up meeting a bunch of people,” said Lamotta. “I ended up becoming closely acquainted with my fraternity and that’s basically where I found all of my friends at Kean.”
“I’m anti-social, but once I met my brothers, I basically broke out of my shell and I found who I am,” Lamotta continued. “If it wasn’t for me going Greek, I wouldn’t have met all of these wonderful people.”
After attending Meet the Greeks, Lamotta became a brother of Sigma Beta Tau and has been a member of the organization for the past four years. He held the position of secretary until recently due to not being able to dedicate enough time to it because of his treatments.
Lamotta’s story and his experience at Kean have almost come full circle at Meet the Greeks as it was there where he met his brothers years ago and is now where they informed the community of his diagnosis.
“It really touched my heart because after that I felt such a sense of joy and a sense of how close people actually are to me at Kean and I didn’t know it, you know?”, said Lamotta “Like I felt like I had support from every single person that night, not just my organization but when I got off of that stage, every single person that I’ve acquainted with in the past, they were all feeling for me.”
Meet the Greeks is an event that Sigma Beta Tau attends every semester. Photos courtey of Sigma Beta Tau.
The cancer started off as a lump under his shoulder, which the doctors thought was a cyst. While Lamotta was taking medicine to aid in the cyst going away, he also noticed behavioral changes about himself, so he decided to get checked out. He was advised to get a biopsy and the next day, three more lumps appeared. Lamotta immediately went to the emergency room and they told him that he has cancer.
“At first it was stunning to me, I couldn’t believe it. But I have such a big support group that I kind of thought nothing of it for then up until now,” said Lamotta. “My mind is completely off of it, I’m just trying to stay positive throughout this whole time because I already know I have it.”
“I’m accepting that I have it but I’m not accepting that it’s going to stay with me,” Lamotta continued. “That’s one thing that all of my friends are helping me with.”
While Lamotta is looking toward the bright side of things, he is still faced with setbacks. On Feb. 8, he experienced a seizure, causing him to be unable to work or drive anymore. The doctors are too concerned that his vision will go blurry again, since he almost lost his vision that day. This means that Lamotta’s family will be helping him get to and from school in order for Lamotta to complete his last semester and earn his degree.
“Yes, that’s what I plan on doing and that’s what I’m hoping on doing,” said Lamotta when asked about graduation. “I feel like if I graduate and I can beat this I can almost conquer anything.”
To learn more about Lamotta’s story or to donate, visit www.gofundme.com/lamottastrong.
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