Ed Bucci celebrates his final chemotherapy treatment on July 13, 2014.

A Western Pennsylvania couple had two choices when they came to a crossroads in their lives last year — get mad at the world and give up, or get up, dust themselves off and fight with all their might.

The determined duo chose to do the latter.

And now, as they celebrate a holiday season that at this time last year they didn’t know if they would see, Leslie and Ed Bucci of Neshannock Township, Pennsylvania, have come to regard every minute as a gift.

“We were scared, I’m not going to lie,” Leslie Bucci said of their simultaneous cancer battles. “But we chose not to approach it that we were dealt a bad hand, we chose to join together and give it everything we had.”

Today, her breast cancer is in remission and her husband Ed Bucci’s lymphoma is classified as “stable,” which to anyone battling the disease, is good news, indeed.

THE NIGHTMARE BEGINS

Ed Bucci, 52, actually developed his first health issue in 1996, when he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a disease that affects the colon. He was forced to have his colon removed, his small bowel reshaped and what is known as a j-pouch, or surgically-constructed internal reservoir, inserted. He missed work for a year while undergoing treatment, but he had been feeling well for about two decades since his recovery.

The family was preparing for Christmas on Dec. 3, 2013, when Leslie Bucci, also 52, went for her annual mammogram.

The next day, she received a phone call that something suspicious was visible, and she needed to undergo a magnification and ultrasound, which was conducted Dec. 17 at a Pittsburgh hospital. Those results also came back suspicious, so on Dec. 31, she underwent a biopsy.

“On January 8, my cellphone rang at work and I was told that the biopsy was positive for breast cancer,” Leslie Bucci said. “I just sat there, stunned. I guess I knew it was a possibility, but when you hear the words…”

Leslie Bucci underwent a lumpectomy with lymph node removal at an area medical center. She was told that because the cancer was in the early stages, under two centimeters, and appeared to be contained to a milk duct, her odds of survival were excellent with chemotherapy and radiation.

About the same time, Ed Bucci went on his annual ski trip with a group of male friends.

“I just didn’t feel right. My stomach was bloated, I had stomach pains and I was exhausted. The guys went out and for the most part I stayed in the room,” he said.

“I was sure it was because he was worried about me,” Leslie Bucci said. “He didn’t even want to go on the trip, but I told him to go.”

Thinking the stomach pain might have to do with his earlier colon issues, Ed Bucci called his family doctor and was soon after sent to a local hematologist/oncologist.

A biopsy was performed and a laparoscopy ordered on March 6, 2014, to view and possibly repair what the Buccis were told might be an inverted hernia.

“The procedure was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours,” Leslie Bucci said. “We got there at 6 a.m., the procedure started about 7 and several hours later, I was still in the waiting room and no one was telling me anything. Finally, at noon, a doctor came out and told me they had found a mass. He said they were converting the operating room from a laparoscopy lab to a surgical room. Finally, 11 hours after it started, a pathologist came out and said it was a long procedure because blood vessels were in the way, but they finally were able to biopsy. He said he could not say for sure until the results came back, but it looked like lymphoma.”

BEARER OF BAD NEWS

One week later, on March 13, Leslie Bucci was scheduled for her first chemotherapy treatment. Her husband, still a bit weak from his surgery but adamant about being by her side, accompanied her.

“Dr. Simon came in right before we started,” Leslie Bucci said. “She said, ‘I have been asked by a colleague to give you some news. Ed has lymphoma.’ “

Leslie Bucci said both were stunned.

“Dr. Simon offered to delay my chemo for a few days so we could deal with this,” Leslie Bucci said. “I don’t think I said anything right away. Ed said, ‘no, we are taking care of her, we need to get her chemo going.’

“His strength at that moment,” she added, “was beyond anything I could possibly imagine.”

TELLING STEPHANIE

The Buccis, who have been married 31 years, both said that one of the toughest parts of their diagnosis was breaking the news to their-then 21-year-old daughter, Stephanie.

Stephanie had her own medical issue, when at age 3 1/2, she suffered a massive heart attack caused by a flap on her aortic valve and was forced to undergo two open-heart surgeries during a 63-day hospitalization.

Stephanie was told immediately of Leslie’s diagnosis, but they held off a bit until they knew for certain that Ed had cancer as well.

“I remember when we told her, Stephanie just had this look of shock on her face and she said, ‘what does this mean? Both of you have cancer?’ ” Leslie said. “There were no words we could say at that moment to ease her pain and confusion and panic. We just told her, ‘we’re going to get through this as a family, we’re going to be OK.’ “

ED’S BATTLE BEGINS

Ed began his chemotherapy in Pittsburgh several days later. He was forced to take time off from his job as a cement finisher because of the six rounds of five-day chemo drips he would have to undergo over 18 weeks.

“If you wonder how powerful the chemo is,” Ed Bucci said, “I went to brush my teeth one day and noticed one of them was completely black. I knew it wasn’t black before. And then I found two more, same thing. I found out that I had small cavities in those teeth and the chemo killed my cavities — and also killed my teeth. I had to have all three teeth pulled.”

Ed was tired and easily winded, although he “ran out the door,” according to his wife, when he got a chance to come home between treatments.

“The nurses were so positive,” Ed Bucci said. “There were some tough days and I know when you’re alone, you start to think too much about what could happen. But they would never let my spirits go down.

“I looked around every day and could see that there were so many people worse off than me, older people, kids who weren’t as strong as me. So in a sense, I felt lucky. But, boy, was it good to get that pass to come home.”

Both Buccis eventually lost their hair and they held a head-shaving party. Several family members and friends joined in and shaved their heads as well.

Meanwhile, their home was flooded with food, flowers, cards and gifts.

“I had people saying hi to me at the grocery store who I never even knew before,” Ed said. “Everyone was behind us.”

Family and friends put together what was called the “Bucci Bash” at an area banquet center, to help the family with medical expenses. So many people came that every table and seat was filled and those who attended could barely move.

Leslie and Ed, both run down while in the throes of their treatment, were prohibited from attending by their doctors because of the risk of infection, but they were allowed to stop there earlier in the day and composed a video “thank you” message that was played at the event.

“We were stunned when we walked in,” Leslie Bucci said. “The place was amazing, there was so much love in that room. We were just both overwhelmed.

“We knew we had a lot of good friends, but that was just beyond our imagination.”

The two, especially Ed Bucci, struggled down the stretch of their chemo treatments. He became so run down, he had to have a blood transfusion with his final treatment.

“My legs were like Jello-O,” Ed Bucci said. “I lost all of my strength. I just laid on the couch when I would come home and never really moved.”

Leslie’s chemo ended in June 2014 and Ed’s was finished at the end of July. Leslie faced 33 follow-up radiation treatments.

While Ed was forced to take time off work because of the length of his treatments, Leslie missed only six days as secretary-treasurer of Neshannock Township, Pennsylvania (she was elected supervisor earlier this month).

WHAT LIES AHEAD

While Leslie Bucci’s cancer is considered to be in remission, Ed’s “stable” report is positive news.

“We were told that the first two years are critical, although the first year is extremely critical,” Leslie Bucci said. “It will be seven years before he is considered cured, but so far, the PET scans have been good. So we’re probably in about as good a place as we can be right now.”

Ed Bucci is back at work and the duo’s hair has grown back in, although Leslie Bucci’s poker-straight hair is now curly and Ed’s curly locks now are straight.

“It’s just hair,” Leslie Bucci said. “That is the last thing we worried about.”

Their resolve to live never has wavered.

“On my first day in Shadyside, a male nurse asked if he could give me a piece of advice,” Ed Bucci said. “I told him sure, and he said, ‘you need to stay positive. About 90 percent of this battle is attitude.’”

“I’ve seen so many people go downhill because they gave up,” he added. “That was not going to be us. We were going to fight this fight like nobody has ever fought it before.”

Leslie Bucci agreed.

“My battle was easy compared to Ed’s — he had the tougher time by far,” Leslie Bucci said. “But like I told him when he couldn’t get off the couch those last few weeks, ‘I love you for who you are. This is who you are right now. I will love you through it.”

“We feel blessed,” she added. “We have a wonderful daughter, we have the most incredible family and friends anyone could ever, ever ask for. And we have each other. And that is all that we really need.”

Cubbal writes for the New Castle (Pennsylvania) News.