Tumor

I'm not one for making broad generalizations, but when you hear the words “tumor” and “spine” in the same sentence, you are disinclined to set off fireworks. Yet that's what we heard as we drove through the Catoctin Mountains this spring, Beth on the cellphone with her physician, who was poring over the results of an MRI. (To save you the suspense, this story appears to be heading toward a happy ending.) Beth had been battling some intense pain, the type normally associated with watching a presidential debate, over the past year, chalking it up to an unruly sciatic nerve.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. -- Mark Johnston was battling a brain tumor, but he also was living his life, right to the end. The former Jefferson County police officer had been filling out necessary documents for family affairs, and he remained as active as he could despite his medical prognosis. And as always, his humor still was there, his friends in the law enforcement community said. Friends on Wednesday remembered Johnston. Jefferson County Sheriff Robert E. "Bobby" Shirley said Johnston recently showed him a picture of his tumor.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. - Any doubts that Mark Johnston was back to his old self were put to rest last Halloween. The former local police officer - known for his unique brand of humor - figured he would make a good Shrek. So the bald-headed Johnston set out to dress himself up as the intimidating-looking film figure as a treat for his children. To make sure he got the look right, Johnston wrapped rubber bands around his ears. "I'm still keeping my sense of humor," Johnston said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Any doubts that Mark Johnston was back to his old self were put to rest last Halloween. The former local police officer -- known for his unique brand of humor -- figured he would make a good Shrek. So the bald-headed Johnston set out to dress himself up as the intimidating-looking film figure as a treat for his children. To make sure he got the look right, Johnston wrapped rubber bands around his ears. "I'm still keeping my sense of humor," Johnston said.

Letters to the Editor 2/20 Mandi was a gift from heaven To the editor: Our daughter, Amanda "Mandi" Gregory was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in November 2000. Surgery was successful at John's Hopkins and she celebrated her 13th birthday at a swimming party on Jan. 14, 2001. She received follow-up treatments, but in August 2001, her MRI showed a recurrence which was inoperable. Make-a-Wish Foundation granted her dream and prepared her a party on Oct. 26, 2001.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Saying he will "always be captain in this department," Charles Town Police Department Chief Barry Subelsky joined city officials Monday night to honor Mark Johnston, a former longtime local police officer who has been battling a brain tumor. Johnston, who started work at the Charles Town Police Department in 1993 and has worked other assignments including four years with the West Virginia State Police's undercover unit, told those gathered at city hall that his health problems started last year when he thought he might have been suffering from a sinus infection.

bonnieb@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. When Lori Rovito noticed that her 6-month-old daughter had a droopy eyelid and an abnormally small pupil on one side, she took her to an eye doctor. Advised to put the baby, Dena, through further testing, she sought a second opinion at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "There was no discussion about it being cancer," Rovito recalled. Dena saw a neurologist and underwent an MRI. "The day I went for the results, I found out she had cancer at 2 p.m. and at 2:30, I was meeting with the oncologist," Rovito recalled.

charlestown@herald-mail.com SHENANDOAH JUNCTION, W.Va. - Nine-year-old Robert F. Saum's surgery for a brain tumor was three weeks behind him when a Monday morning car accident claimed the Shenandoah Junction youngster's life. Lillian Potter-Saum, Bobby's mother, was driving her son to Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore for his follow-up treatment Monday morning when the crash occurred at about 6:30 a.m. in Frederick County, Md. Maryland State Police in Frederick said their Saturn struck the back of a truck on U.S. 340 near Frederick.

WAYNESBORO, Pa. -- Sara Roseberry gets to have a little fun in her otherwise tragic young life next month when she becomes the focus of attention at a day-long car show in her honor by some classic Chevrolet lovers in Waynesboro. Best of all, she said, she gets to ride in a convertible. Sara, 13, of Tilghmanton, was diagnosed with a brain tumor two years ago. She survived operations to remove the tumor, but brain damage it caused left her partially paralyzed, her mother, Teresa Roseberry said.

I'm not one for making broad generalizations, but when you hear the words “tumor” and “spine” in the same sentence, you are disinclined to set off fireworks. Yet that's what we heard as we drove through the Catoctin Mountains this spring, Beth on the cellphone with her physician, who was poring over the results of an MRI. (To save you the suspense, this story appears to be heading toward a happy ending.) Beth had been battling some intense pain, the type normally associated with watching a presidential debate, over the past year, chalking it up to an unruly sciatic nerve.

Williamsport resident Melissa Foster is a successful author with three books on Amazon's top-100 electronic books listing. She's happy about that, and about the two books she is currently writing. But Foster, 45, knows writing can be hard work, especially for children. So when she leads her writing program, Aspiring Authors, at area elementary schools, her first question to the kids is "How many kids here hate to write?" "My focus at first is to engage the kids in telling me why they don't like to write," she said.

Garnet Stevens doesn't think of himself as a control freak. "I'm more of a 'Yes dear, no dear, whatever you want to do dear,'" the Waynesboro Pa. resident said. But last December, when doctors told Stevens he had two brain tumors, he found himself marveling at how much cancer took control of his life. "It controls your schedule ... it controls how your body feels ... it controls when you eat and what you eat," Stevens said Friday evening during the opening ceremony for Relay for Life at Fairgrounds Park in Hagerstown.

WILLIAMSPORT -- Connor Renn was on familiar turf Saturday morning -- the pitcher's mound. It's been his comfort zone since he was 5 years old and learning the basics of baseball. But this time, there were no windups, no curveballs or smoking missiles snapping the catcher's mitt. There was no team to beat. He already had beaten the odds. On Feb. 12, Connor was diagnosed with ganglioglioma, a rare, benign tumor that was found on his spinal cord. His doctors didn't expect the 13-year-old to be out of the hospital at this point.

Editor's note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes "A Life Remembered. " This continuing series takes a look back -- through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others -- at a member of the community who died recently. Today's "A Life Remembered" is about Beth Ann Thompson Ostoich, who died March 19 at the age of 55. Her obituary was published in the March 24 edition of The Herald-Mail. Beth Ostoich began her life under the watchful eye of God, spending the first 17 years of her life in Brazil with her missionary parents.

Editor's note: Each Sunday, The Herald-Mail publishes "A Life Remembered. " This continuing series takes a look back -- through the eyes of family, friends, co-workers and others -- at a member of the community who died recently. Today's "A Life Remembered" is about Christopher Lewis, who died July 10 at the age of 9. His obituary was published in the July 12 edition of The Herald-Mail. When Becky Sweeney was home schooling Christopher Lewis, she said she was struck by the love his parents had for their son -- a love that never wavered.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. -- Mark Johnston was battling a brain tumor, but he also was living his life, right to the end. The former Jefferson County police officer had been filling out necessary documents for family affairs, and he remained as active as he could despite his medical prognosis. And as always, his humor still was there, his friends in the law enforcement community said. Friends on Wednesday remembered Johnston. Jefferson County Sheriff Robert E. "Bobby" Shirley said Johnston recently showed him a picture of his tumor.

HAGERSTOWN -- The Washington County Commissioners issued a proclamation declaring today "Christopher Lewis Day" in recognition of the ninth birthday of a local boy who has fought a cancerous brain tumor for more than half of his life. Chris, the son of Bill and Judi Lewis of Hagerstown, "has spread good cheer to all he has met" and "displayed the heart of a champion and fortitude of a warrior in the midst of suffering, with maturity beyond his years," the proclamation said. Commissioner James F. Kercheval visited the boy and his family Wednesday to deliver the proclamation, along with Randy Buchman, pastor of Tri-State Fellowship Church.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. - Any doubts that Mark Johnston was back to his old self were put to rest last Halloween. The former local police officer - known for his unique brand of humor - figured he would make a good Shrek. So the bald-headed Johnston set out to dress himself up as the intimidating-looking film figure as a treat for his children. To make sure he got the look right, Johnston wrapped rubber bands around his ears. "I'm still keeping my sense of humor," Johnston said.

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Any doubts that Mark Johnston was back to his old self were put to rest last Halloween. The former local police officer -- known for his unique brand of humor -- figured he would make a good Shrek. So the bald-headed Johnston set out to dress himself up as the intimidating-looking film figure as a treat for his children. To make sure he got the look right, Johnston wrapped rubber bands around his ears. "I'm still keeping my sense of humor," Johnston said.