At 4 p.m. on a Tuesday in January of 2002, Debbie Soldano was working at University Hospital's Barrett Cancer Center when she got a call from Don Dilg, a cancer patient, saying he thought his surgical wound was opening.

But when Dilg arrived, Soldano, 44, the manager for surgical oncology, was more worried about the 64-year-old's breathing.

Don Dilg, who unknowingly had serious blood clots, was called back to UC's Barrett Cancer Center from a pharmacy by nurse Debbie Soldano (Tony Jones photo) | ZOOM |

After an X-ray, she told Dilg to go home and she'd call his cell.

Developed and read, the X-ray showed Dilg didn't have pneumonia but could have blood clots. She tried the cell phone, but the Dilgs didn't have it on. Then she dug through files to find the name of their pharmacy. When they stopped by, she had the pharmacist send him back to the hospital.

When Dilg arrived, tests showed her hunch was right, he had clots in his arms, legs and lungs.

"If it hadn't been for her expert eye, I really believe a clot would've gone to my heart, and that would've been it," said Dilg, a Spanish teacher and golf coach at Fenwick High School in Middletown.

Now, Soldano has been honored as one of four nurses to receive the inaugural New York Times "Tribute to Nurses" award.

But for her the reward was knowing she'd helped Dilg.

"I love these patients, and I get just as much from them as they get from me," she said.

Coming to Madisonville

Candles will light up Madisonville Saturday as part of "Luminaria, Harmony of Light." This is the first time the Luminaria gatherings, which began in Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine in 2001, will be outside the original neighborhood.

At previous Luminaria events, which featured 50,000 candles decorating the park and music, more than 600 people attended. Madisonville is prepared for 1,000, with decorating beginning Saturday at 3 p.m. at Madison and Whetsel avenues. Music begins at 5 p.m., and candle lighting at 6 p.m.

The Washington Park Luminaria celebration will be Dec. 6.

ACADEMIC ALL-STARS

Graduates cum laude

Melissa Koenig, of Monfort Heights has graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in middle school education from Wittenberg University, Springfield, Ohio.

She has accepted a teaching position at St. Vincent DePaul School in Riverside.

Goebel wins scholarship

Megan Goebel, a freshman pre-med major at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, was a winner of a Heritage Scholarship, a renewable, half-tuition award.

The Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy graduate is the daughter of Diane and Charles Goebel of Mason.

Denton in honor society

Alison Terrill Denton, as a freshman at Miami University, was inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta, the National Academic Honor Society for Freshmen, and has accepted membership into the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

She has transferred to Thomas More College to pursue a nursing degree.

She is the daughter of Terrill and Mark Denton of Withamsville.

To submit an item, call 755-4165.

OUR KIDS

She's ballerina bound

Amanda Hiler, 11, of Springfield Township, wants to be a professional dancer when she grows up.

"My goal is to grow up and be in the Cincinnati Ballet," she said.

Last weekend, she got a taste of what is to come when she and about 75 other dancers from the region, between 5 and 18, were invited to perform locally with the Moscow Ballet Co.

Hiler, a sixth-grader at Pleasant Run Middle School, practices her dance five days a week for a total of 151/2 hours with two different teachers in Fairfield, Lisa Garrison at the Dance Academy and Darla Dirr at Darla's Dance Studio. She said being able to meet the professional Russian dancers, who travel to the United States every four to seven years, was a good opportunity to learn more about professional dancing.