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Pam’s Legacy

I t’s the classic boy-meets-girl
story. It was 1981 and Angel was
bartending to pay the bills as a
student at the University of Miami
in Florida. One evening while he was at work,
a group of female students came in to the Angel and Pam Alvarez were happily married for
restaurant, and one of the girls captured 36 years. After Pam passed away in March 2019,
Angel’s attention. He asked her to dance. Angel enlisted Healthnetwork to facilitate and
She said yes. match a gift in Pam’s honor to Penn Medicine.
“And that was it!” says Angel. “All I remember
is one kiss. Next thing I know, I wake up and The diagnosis shocked everyone who knew
we’ve got three kids, dogs, and a mortgage!” her. Angel says, “Pam was in the best shape of
anyone you’ve ever met. She was a vegetarian,
No-Risk Management she exercised, she meditated and practiced yoga.

In the early days of their marriage, Angel left She looked 20 years younger than she was.”
his decent job with a pharmaceutical company
to start a distribution company for optical A Phone Call
supplies. It was a move many would call risky. Angel knew this was the time to make an
But Angel never saw it that way. Pam wanted important phone call.
to stay home when they started having children, “With Healthnetwork’s help we got her into
and Angel was determined to make that possible. Dana-Farber Cancer Center with only about
“I really didn’t see any risk. I just felt like it two days’ notice,” he says. “Extraordinary!”
was going to be a success,” says Angel. “I was Pam underwent surgery to have her bladder
working to keep Pam home like she wanted. removed. The oncology team declared the
It gave me purpose.” surgery a success, and the family was able to
Over the next several years, they had three breathe easier for a short time—until, a couple
daughters, and “Pam was totally engaged in months later, a bump appeared on Pam’s skull.
their lives,” says Angel. As for the company, “In something like 1 out of 200 cases, that
ABB Optical Group grew into the nation’s kind of cancer metastasizes in your skull and
leading distributor of contact lenses to eye brain,” Angel explains. “And it happened to Pam.”
care professionals.
Pam and Angel were heavily involved in Saying Goodbye
their Miami community. Angel served on Realizing the gravity of situation, Angel bought
various boards, including the United Way a house in Pam’s hometown of West Chester,
and the National Foundation for Teaching Pennsylvania, and they moved up from their
Entrepreneurship. When the girls grew up and home in Miami to be near Pam’s family. Two of
moved out of the house, Pam directed her their daughters moved back home to help care
fierce love for children by volunteering as a for their mom.
court-appointed child advocate.
Again, Angel reached out to Healthnetwork,
who put them in touch with Dr. Ronac Mamtani
Unwelcome News and the rest of the oncology group at the Penn
Then, in the fall of 2017, the worst thing Medicine Abramson Cancer Center.
happened. Pam was diagnosed with late-stage In a devastating blow to the family and
bladder cancer. many dear friends, Pam passed away on

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