An Update From Friends

“What a difference a year makes,” says Maggie San Miguel, who you met in the Fall 2003 special breast cancer issue. Now two years out from treatment for stage 3 breast cancer, she’s cancer-free. San Miguel keeps busy with her nonprofit organization Bald Mama Inc. in Austin, Texas, “and a really cute new boyfriend.” She hopes to expand the scope of Bald Mama, which assists cancer patients with life tasks, to include sick children.

Brad Zebrack, PhD, shared his story in the Winter 2002 issue. Treatment for Hodgkin’s disease in the late 1980s left Zebrack infertile, and, after unsuccessful attempts with artificial insemination, Zebrack and his wife Joanne adopted Sierra Grace, who is now 2 years old and “talking up a storm.” Zebrack says his family took a trip to Yosemite last summer “so we could show Sierra the mountains she was named after.” Zebrack says he and his wife are considering adoption of a second child.

In the year since Dick Weismann appeared in the Winter 2003 issue, the survivor of breast cancer, melanoma and prostate cancer is happy to report good health. He continues his work with The Humor Collection (www.thehumorcollection.org), which recently published a resource guide “to encourage individuals and organizations to use the booklet as a reference in creating humor libraries for themselves or for rehab units, cancer centers and senior and retirement homes.”The Californian is also working with a local elementary school on a reading intervention program for struggling readers. “If a youngster cannot read independently by second grade, chances are he or she will have trouble with school from there on. But the program is having good success improving their ability to read at class level.” He adds: “If only I had some good news on improvements in my golf game!”

When testicular cancer survivor John Fender was introduced in the Summer 2004 issue, he was an expectant father. Already father to two young boys, daughter Ada Elisabeth joined the family in April 2004. “I’m still trying to figure out what having a daughter will be like because she’s still so young. But one thing’s for sure—she isn’t that interested in toys. She likes to be around people and is very personable.” Diagnosed five years ago with stage 1 seminoma, Fender says his chances for recurrence have gone down considerably. “It’s just a relief to get to that point. I feel lucky.”

Ten-year kidney cancer survivor Paula Bowen says her health “continues to remain stable—overlooking aging and menopause!” Bowen, featured in the Summer 2003 issue, is still closely monitored by her oncologist, who, she says, “continues to marvel at my survival and the quality of my life.” Life for her now includes serving as caregiver to her 80-year-old mom and 93-year-old dad. “My daughter and her family live just five minutes away and I also get to be grandma. Talk about having a cradle-to-grave life experience right now. It’s absolutely wonderful, especially when I see the joy my parents get when their great-grandchildren are around.” In addition, Bowen continues to serve on the board of directors for the Kidney Cancer Association (www.kidneycancerassociation.org).

Gretchen Sonnenberg made some major changes in her life since she shared her story of dealing with the loss of her mother Denise to cancer in the Spring 2004 issue. She was married Oct. 11, 2003 to Jeremy Hockley on what she says was a “beautiful and wonderful day.”Sonnenberg-Hockley and her husband soon decided “life is just too short and unpredictable to live a satisfactory life,” so the two quit their jobs and traveled the country for two months, starting in Maine and ending in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, where they currently live and work as ski instructors. “What strikes me the most now is that this life—life after my mom—is so different than before. I’m so happy right now living in this beautiful place with my husband, but there’s an underlying sense of something missing. My dad, my sister and I will never stop missing my mom, but we’ve learned that you have to go on with your life. You don’t have the option to simply stop living. You just have to learn to accommodate your life to exist without them.” She says she will forever carry thoughts of her mother, but the memories are no longer sad—“just happy memories of someone I miss with all my heart.”