I was never a Funky Winkerbean reader, nor really any other comic for that matter other than Dilbert, but I had been following it over the past few months.

I lost my MIL (she and my wife were very close and our older 2 kids adored her-it only took 1 1/2 yrs. from daignosis to her death) a few years ago to breast cancer at the age of 53, a good friend of ours in now in remission after a long battle (she's 41) and one of our long-term employees is fighting it right now (advanced stage but responding well to treatment-she's 42) so it really hits home.

In my MIL's case, she just felt something that didn't feel "right". It was too small for the mammogram to pickup but she insisted that something wasn't right. In the month it took from getting the mammogram to getting a biopsy which she insisted on despite seeing nothing in the scans it had grown to about golf ball sized. It never responded to any of the treatments, which really wiped her out and she just decided she couldn't take anymore. By that stage it had gotten into her liver and bones (which is a very bad sign). I can't stress enough to the ladies or their loved ones, if something doesn't "feel" right insist on further examination. Don't assume that because a scan didn't pick it up that there's not something there. If you've/they've got family history get the prescreening done.

I'll never forget the day we took her to hospice after she didn't gain consciousness that fateful morning. All the family members came to say their last goodbyes, the whole time my wife was by her side. She and I had gone to make a quick restroom break and grab a soda and that's when she passed. Apparently that happens a lot with close family members, where the dying person for whatever reason dies just after the other person leaves the room. I will never forget the vision of her final days and how fast she deteriorated. She was such a vibrant, active person before. 100% Sicilian, outstanding cook who would never let anyone get even a slight hunger pang before putting some homemade dish in front of them, a housecleaning dynamo and a special ed teacher's aid (pretty ironic given my middle son's Ds).

As a result we've (but especially my wife) become active with the CT Breast Health Initiative which does a big race fundraiser every year, not unlike the Susan B. Komen races but more on a local level.

It's really scary stuff and there's not a day that goes by without my wife thinking of it.

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)