What a great idea, Jerry!

My baby sister was diagnosed with a malignant brain-stem tumour in 1981, when she was 11 years old. They operated and removed most of it, then the chemo and radiation treatments started. She came through that fairly well, but the "experts" told my mother that there was a good chance she wouldn't live to see 16. When she was 15 they operated again, removing a bit more of the growth, followed by more chemo and radiation. Due to the way the tumour was wrapped around the brain stem it was impossible to get all of it.

The tumour and resulting surgeries slowed her down a bit, but she was still able to graduate high school on time, and she continued on to college. Her balance and ability to walk properly were the worst of the after-effects.

I'm happy to say that she just turned 37 years old, is happily married, and works full-time with other physically-challenged people. She still can't walk properly, but she's alive and healthy. Just goes to prove that even the experts can be wrong.

As a side note...you always hear talk about people's "heroes". Sports figures, actors, musicians, etc. Sorry folks...those people aren't heroes. People like my sister are the true heroes, at least in my eyes.