Obituary brings to light the tragedy of one local family

Wednesday, March 9, 2005 11:23 AM CST

Did anyone pay close attention to the obituary of Laura Ann Maples that appeared in last week's Courier-Herald? Laura is the daughter of a friend and former co-worker of mine, Elden Jones. Take another look at that obituary. This beautiful young lady died of breast cancer on Feb. 10, 2005, at the age of 39.

No big deal to the average person, most would just read the obituary, say to themselves "how sad that is" and move on to the sports section. I can't seem to do that, and not just because this was the obituary for the daughter of my friend. But because there was so much more to the story, and the text of the obituary hinted to it. In the obituary it states "She was preceded in death by her mother Lucille Jones, her sister Dawn Jones (who, by the way, was only 13 years old when she died) and her brother Michael Jones. Preceded in death by them, not survived by them! What the obituary doesn't mention is that each and every one of them died of cancer. Not necessarily the same type of cancer but cancer none the less. As it turns out, her father Elden (the surviving member of that family) has also tested positive for cancer.

You have to ask yourself, what are the chances that an entire family of five would all get cancer? And terminal cancer at that?

Think the odds are pretty high against that? I'd say astronomical. Now glance back at the obituary for Laura. Notice the line that says "and brother Michael Jones, who also died Feb. 10, 2005." Michael was just about the same age as Laura and suffered from terminal brain cancer. If the odds of an entire family randomly being inflicted with various forms of the same disease are astronomical, what do you think are the chances of two siblings miles apart in the prime of their lives dying on the same day? And to think that my friend Elden has lived a parent's worst nightmare, to out live one of their children, how about the pain of having to lose them all? Devastated does not even begin to explain how this poor man must feel. Personally, I think there is a lot more to this story than any of us will ever know.

Pete Culver

Enumclaw

Source of this article:  http://www.courierherald.com/articles/2005/03/09/news/opinion/letter2.txt

Laura Ann Maples:

Died of Breast Cancer on 2/10/2005 at the age of 39

Mother: Died of Cancer

Sister: Died of Cancer at age 13

Father: still alive, but has tested positive for cancer

Brother (nearly the same age as Laura): Died of brain cancer on the same day as his sister Laura on 2/10/2005