The first time I saw Dana was in the laundrymat of our apartment complex. I thought \"there is a the girl for me.\" Later I knocked on her apartment door and she was decorating a birthday cake for her sister. This one small action says so much about my Danalee. She was thoughtful, generous, creative and always ready to celebrate an occasion with her family surrounded by learning and fine arts. She found her artistic expression in dance and trained as a classical ballerina. Dance became a passion that would last a lifetime.
After I met her I didn't waste any time making her \"my Danalee.\" We began our lives together and our traveling Navy career at the same time. Dana's gifts of cooking, artful entertaining and easy friendships made her the perfect officer's wife. She enjoyed traveling the world, meeting new friends in foreign lands and the challenge of turning each assigned housing into a home. She made lasting friendships that became a second family. When our first son, Patrick, was born in Guam it was this second family that was there for support. When Andrew came along a few years later our family was complete. Dana was a devoted mother, encouraging and supporting her boys as they learned to play music, compete in athletics and excel in school. She frequently chaperoned or volunteered, lending her talents to make a more entertaining, comfortable or fun event for everyone. She never missed a school performance, track meet or the opportunity to cook up the catch-of-the-day her boys might bring home. Dana was proud of our sons accomplishments and had the joy of watching them grow into successful young men. She was loving and giving, my Danalee.
Danalee loved holiday traditions and always placed great importance on family and heritage. During her chemo treatments Dana transcribed love letters that had been written by my Grandparents before they were married during a war time courtship. She compiled these letters and created a book \"Love Letters: The Courtship of Louis and Mary\" that she gave as Christmas gifts the December before she passed away. Her labor of love is a treasured legacy for future generations to cherish. She was thoughtful and generous, my Danalee.
And she danced ... at the Diamond Horseshoe in Walt Disney World, for conventions, musical theater and many holiday Nutcracker performances. My favorite dance was when she would waltz in my arms, on cruise ship dance floors, officer's clubs or our own living room. When she became weak from chemo she still attended ballet classes, held tight to the barre and did what she loved best, she danced. On September 26, 2006 Dana traded her dance on this earth for the butterfly ballet she now performs in the stars. She held a special place in the hearts of all who knew her. My Danalee was pure goodness and light.
Dana was just 51 in 2003 when she was diagnosed with Stage IV Ovarian Cancer and by the time her courageous three-year battle was done, we had explored, in vain, every medical option available to beat this insidious disease.
Had the symptoms of Ovarian Cancer been familiar to us and had we realized early on that Dana was experiencing them, studies indicate there is a 95% chance that she would still be here. However, like the majority of the population, including many in the medical community, we were unaware of the symptoms of the disease, or the commonality (1 in 69 women), until it was too late for my gentle butterfly dancer, Danalee.
It was too late for Dana, but it is not too late for you.
Just as she always reached out to others during her time on this earth, my Danalee is now reaching out to you. Through me - the man who was blessed to be her loving husband and the father of her two fine sons - Danalee is dancing for your life. From her sparkling spot in heaven where she gracefully pirouettes amid the stars, my butterfly dancer is choreographing some of the most important steps you will ever take as a woman ... or as a man who loves a woman.
These steps are basic and easy to learn: 1) know the four symptoms* of ovarian cancer by heart, 2) if those symptoms occur and persist for more than three weeks, seek medical attention, 3) demand the \"standard of care\" tests that will reveal early-stage ovarian cancer (trans-vaginal ultrasound, vaginal rectal exam, and CA-125 blood test), and 4) become involved in raising awareness and funding research to stop this silent killer.
Danalee dances for you now ... and her graceful grand jete amid the stars is mirrored on earth by the delicate butterfly dancer pendant I designed for her back in 1984, wrapping it in old dental school gold and a great deal of love. It was my beautiful Dana's enchantment with butterflies, her incredible loveliness and her lifelong devotion to the dance that inspired me to create the Butterfly Pas de Trois (\"dance for three\"), which once graced her elegant neck and is now helping fund research and awareness about the cancer that killed her. Sometimes, tears come with no warning at all ... I may open a drawer and see something of Dana's, or hear a song we danced to, or see a yellow rose ... but those moments are fleeting lately because somehow Dana has infused me with her energy and enthusiasm for life and given me the Butterfly Ballet mission of making the world aware and saving the precious lives of other wonderful women.
The beautiful Butterfly Pas de Trois pendant has come to symbolize the music, the magic and the miracles - sparkling bits of stardust that continue to descend on us from above and can only be our incredible Danalee blessing the mission of Butterfly Ballet.
"); break; } slider.setValue(0); } // scroll the element vertically based on its width and the slider maximum value function scrollVertical(value, element, slider, slide) { element.scrollTop = Math.round(value/slider.maximum*(element.scrollHeight-element.offsetHeight)); }