Friends, Co-workers Raise Money for Ailing Anderson Emergency Dispatcher
By Kirk Brown, Anderson Independent-Mail
Original publication date: July 16, 2011
Anderson County, S.C. — After suffering crushing headaches for two years and a pair of minor strokes, Leslie Albergotti recently underwent a CT scan that revealed a large brain tumor.
“I started crying because I was not expecting that,” recalled Albergotti, who has worked as an Anderson County emergency 911 dispatcher for the past six years.
Earlier this month Albergotti traveled to the Duke Cancer Institute in Durham, N.C., where she met with one of the physicians who previously treated the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy for brain cancer.
Based on the physician’s advice, Albergotti chose to undergo surgery at Duke to remove her tumor.
“I woke up and I had a big turban on my head,” she said.
Benefit for Leslie Albergotti
Albergotti’s co-workers held a benefit for her Saturday at the county’s Centerville Fire Station on Sullivan Road. The event included a yard sale, car wash, barbecue plate sales and four auctions for flights on a LifeFlight helicopter.
The benefit raised a total of $3,000 to help defray Albergotti’s medical expenses, said Anita Donley, community projects coordinator for the Anderson County Sheriff’s Office.
Sitting in the fire station Saturday afternoon, Albergotti expressed gratitude for the assistance and support that she has received from her father, son, other relatives, friends and co-workers.
“I appreciate everything they have done,” she said. “It means a lot to me.”
Since the surgery, the headaches that previously plagued Albergotti have stopped.
“I feel like a normal person,” said Albergotti, adding that she can’t wait to return to work as a 911 dispatcher.
“I love my job,” she said.
Albergotti will return to the Duke Cancer Institute later this month for a post-surgical checkup. Then she expects to continue her treatment, which will involve the use of a radiation laser to target portions of the tumor that could not be surgically removed, at the AnMed Health North Campus in Anderson.
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