Autumn Sister - A True Story Of My Sister's Battle With Cancer
EVERYONE PRESENTLY LIVING IS DYING. Some of us sooner than others, and few of us know when. Having been a free-spirited, hedonistic, chronic womanizer all of my adult life, then suddenly becoming a caretaking warrior in the battle against level 3 breast cancer would have never prepared me for the year of hell, walking hand in hand with the sister I loved, through high-dose radiation, chemotherapy, profound radical surgery, and days and days of Bed Bath and Beyond. My sister, Cheryl Ann, pointed out to me that my shower curtain, dish rack, bath tub, bed clothing, kitchen floor, and countless other bachelor maladies desperately needed revision and supervision. I had no idea. And why would I? Domestic makeover was invading my space like a flesh-eating virus and all I was trying to do was save her life.
By far, the most difficult thing I’ve ever done was to stop my life of pleasure and adventure and try helping a courageous, young forty-four-year-old Director of Human Resources save her life. Life as she knew it stopped in February 2001 when word came to her that the lump she found was the enemy and needed killing. The chances for such a case were normally fair to good, but as her luck went during the entire ordeal, the scan reader that day was not at the top of her game… must have had a late night. By June, four months later, the cancer was racing and a desperate new plan was needed. Misdiagnosis sucks.
Leaving home suddenly to move out of state with just a suitcase to fight cancer is not an easy thing. Not even a good in-flight movie could distract anyone from that. Cheryl Ann flew to Los Angeles from Youngstown, Ohio, to move in with me to begin one last chance in Level B of the 200 Building at the UCLA Medical Center. They were kind enough to take her case after my meetings and pleas. Our thanks went out to them at UCLA, and the war began.
