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Courageous story ends suddenly, sadly
© St. Petersburg Times, Melanoma had begun to weaken Kristi Michael, but it had done nothing to dent her positive outlook. One morning when doctors at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md., checked on Michael, a Tampa resident, they picked up the clipboard holding her chart but there was nothing there. At NCI, there was always a chart. The doctors and the nurse all shared a confused look. Then Michael piped up. "Oh did you need that? Because I made it into an airplane and flew it out the window," she said. It was the kind of approach Michael, a wife and mother of one, used to battle the rarest but most dangerous form of skin cancer. It was a blend of surprising humor and courage with little, if any, self-pity. Instead of giving up when conventional methods did not work, Michael, a freelance television and movie makeup artist, fought to get to participate in exclusive research projects at NCI and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. When Allure magazine called Sloan-Kettering oncologist Wen-Jen Hwu looking for a melanoma patient to profile in the July issue of its national magazine, Hwu said he knew the perfect person. Allure devoted nearly four full pages to Michael's story, including her belief that her cancer was caused by her use of tanning beds. The magazine included the address to her Web page (kristimichael.com) so people could learn more about her goals, which included building a family lodge at the National Cancer Institute. But when readers went to the Web site, they discovered Michael had died. She was 35. The magazine had gone to press when she passed away June 5 in her Tampa home. The article, and Michael's death, prompted an outpouring of emotion. The latest issue of Allure, which hit news stands Tuesday, includes 11 letters from readers who were moved by Michael's courage, and frightened about sunbathing and tanning machines. Dozens of e-mails to the Web site mirrored those sentiments. Stan Kozma, Michael's closest friend, helped guide her through the various stages of treatment. Now, he says, Michael is guiding him and other friends to maintain the Web site and pursue her goal of a family lodge at the institute. "We work on them here with the strength of her spirit and the strength of her guidance to keep the faith and keep on," Kozma said. "That's what she would want." Here's an update on the MS Tampa, the Norwegian-registered freighter that has been at the center of a budding controversy in Australia since rescuing more than 400 Indonesian asylum seekers off a sinking ferry. The ship remains off the coast of Christmas Island because the Australian government will not accept the refugees. The Wilh. Wilhelmsen shipping line has a tradition of naming all of its ships with words that begin with T. Tampa is significant to the company because it used to be a port serviced by Wilh. Wilhelmsen. In fact, the company has had five ships in its fleet named Tampa since it began operating in 1861. I got all of this information by simply e-mailing the company -- in Norway. Technology never ceases to amaze. Remember that steak that would supposedly dissolve if immersed in cola for two days? Well, it lives, but it's looking awfully brown. The Dolphins and Bucs would never join forces, and the Lightning and Panthers can't agree on the time of day, but the Tampa Bay International Business Council has teamed with the Miami-based Florida Foreign Trade Association. Officials from both companies signed an agreement at a Port Authority ceremony Thursday. The goal is to help businesses in both cities get more involved in international trade, particularly in Latin America. -- Ernest Hooper can be reached at (813) 226-3406 or Hooper@sptimes.com. His column appears on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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Times columns today Howard Troxler Jan Glidewell Ernest Hooper Robert Trigaux Eric Deggans From the Times Metro desks |
