May 10, 2005 [LINK]
One of my old friends from the University of South Dakota, Donna Ball, had some bad luck in terms of health. She was having a harder and harder time breathing in the last couple months, and after a battery of tests was conducted, she was diagnosed with Wegener's Granuloma, a rare autoimmune system disease that affects only ten of every one million people. It used to be fatal, but is now treatable with heavy doses of strong medicine over a 12-month period. Donna has endured and overcome numerous tribulations in her life, and yet always manages to bounce back and move ahead. She is fiercely independent and loves to travel to unusual destinations, take photographs, and write about all sorts of topics. She is one of those underappreciated talented, hard-working, honest-as-the-day-is-long people who form the bedrock of this great nation. Get-well wishes may be sent to Donna at whales6@yahoo.com.