An editor, reporters and a photographer whose work appeared in the Intelligencer Journal in 2008 captured prizes in statewide journalism contests.Awards in a contest sponsored by Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors will be presented tonight.Keystone Press Awards from the ......

I am happy.Mark it down in history because I don't say that often.I won — or at least am winning — the battle against breast cancer.The radiologist found no indication of breast cancer on my one-year diagnostic mammogram.None — It can be a happy w......

If you are reading this column with your morning coffee, I'm probably spazzing out about now.Today I have a diagnostic mammogram to make sure that my breast cancer is gone.Just about one year ago on a Friday morning, a radiologist sat down on a chair, looked me in the eye, and s......

I'm scared to graduate from breast cancer treatment.Nevertheless, today I will ring the bell at the cancer center and accept my graduation diploma, signifying the completion of six weeks of breast radiation.Though the gesture seems just a little hokey, it does mark an accomplish......

Of all the advice I received during my experience with breast cancer, one sentence reigns supreme: "You have to walk your own path through this."Another breast cancer survivor gave me this advice soon after I was diagnosed. I was asking her about the specifics of her situation, s......

Would you rather have breast cancer or chronic pain?Would you rather have breast cancer or lung cancer?Would you rather die of breast cancer or lose a child to cancer?Would you rather live with a debilitating mental illness or die of breast cancer?It's all relative......

I am a plethora of contradictions.My husband says that's the way I've always been, even when I didn't have breast cancer.If that's true, and it might be, the contradictory part of myself has been exaggerated to the point where I think I should wear orange blinking li......

I'm not good at having my feet washed.The thought hit me as I watched a friend I deeply admire on her hands and knees washing my kitchen floor.What she was doing, essentially, was washing my feet, just like members of my church do each year as they follow the example of Jesus wa......

"I have cancer, damn it, and I want my water now."That's what I wanted to shout from the top of the pretzel stand at Park City Center to the entire crowd of holiday shoppers before Thanksgiving.Somebody, it seemed, had pressed a button, immobilizing the teena......

I am cynical and pessimistic.Usually.The only exception is when I'm rooting for the underdog. I can be a bit of a sap then.Most of the time I am surprised when things go well. I practically expect them to go wrong.That way, when things go right, I am happily surpri......

What if I live?What an odd question to ask when there's no indication that my breast cancer is going to kill me.Yet, in the weeks since I learned I have cancer, I have thought of death more than once. Coping for me involves accepting the worst scenario and stepping backward.......

But I like my breasts …That's the potential title I wrote in my journal as an idea for a column about breast cancer — even though I wondered if I would dare write it.Almost certainly I'll regret this, but I'm taking my own dare.Ever since my oncologis......

"You don't know, but that's just going to have to be OK."That's what my friend concluded when I was done venting about all the waiting, the testing, more waiting and the unknowns that have followed my breast cancer diagnosis.Not knowing is not OK — not fo......

I have breast cancer.I'm 45, and I have breast cancer.I work, volunteer, salsa, watch "Grey's Anatomy" and walk the dog.I clean the house, try to learn Spanish and organize our family's social calendar, and I have breast cancer.I try to wrap my mi......