German researchers report that specially-trained dogs can now detect lung cancer – more accurately than a CT scan – by sniffing patients' breath. How do they do it? “Lung cancer patients breathed into glass tubes that contained fleece to capture the odors of the specific…
My dad was described as a “downtown kind of guy.” He loved to walk through the Minneapolis skyways at noon. Strolling through the department stores and walkways on his way to lunch, he’d say hello to people he knew, and give us the details: “I…
Yesterday, I attended the funeral of Giovanni Pelle, father of Dan Pelle, one the newspaper's amazing photographers. Giovanni was Italian-American and famous for his spaghetti sauce. He used this cooking talent for the greater good. As his obit read: He made the best spaghetti sauce…
The news out of University of Pennsylvania this week about their serial killers caused me to weep. "Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania transformed patients' own white blood cells into 'serial killers' capable of annihilating cancer cells within the body. The two patients who experienced…
I stopped into the Safeway store on Northwest Boulevard on Spokane's North Side last night around dinnertime, and it was packed, five or six deep in line. I asked the clerk if it was because it was a Thursday evening and maybe people were planning…
Do you believe in miracles? Our pets love us and offer comfort and care – without condition. Imagine the joy in recovering your pet one year after a fatal car accident took away your husband and child. May Caesar live a long and happy life…
The Associated Press reported today on a study published in the August issue of Archives of Suicide Research: A movie analysis shows depictions of explicit and graphic suicides tripled from 1950 to 2006. An analysis by Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center of 855 top box…
In today's EndNotes column, we addressed this dilemma: When you give a memorial contribution in honor of someone who has died, does the nonprofit tell the family how much you coughed up? Short answer: Nope. Question for our readers: Do you regularly give memorial donations…
You read about these events: life-long lovers who die within hours of each other. Read the story of Bob and Kay Sarver who died within 15 hours of each other. Perhaps our spiritual connections with each other influence our bodies more than we realize. If…
In the fitness center locker room this morning, I struck up a conversation with a woman named Connie who had attended her 1971 Ferris High School 40th reunion over the weekend. Out of a class of about 525, at least 31 have died, and the…
Paula Davis, funeral director for Heritage Funeral Home, is on a crusade to get people to write their own obituary. In my Sunday story, she explained one reason to do it: “You spend days planning a birthday party or a vacation,” she said. “And then…
My Saturday Wise Words interview was with Larry Rider, deputy chief of Spokane Valley Fire Department. He talked about the difference between fitness levels 32 years ago, when he first became a firefighter, and now. His imagery in the excerpt below certainly reflects the difference…
Lucille Ball would be 100 years old today if she were still alive. She was the wacky star of I Love Lucy, the comedy hit of the 1950s. In each episode Lucy worked diligently to outwit her husband, Ricky Ricardo (played by Desi Arnaz, her…
On Monday, after a busy weekend with houseguests and many family activities, I was pretty darn tired when I hit the newsroom. I had two stories to write for the weekend and our syndicated EndNotes column was due to McClatchy-Tribune by Wednesday. A story came…
Every month it seems, we get pitched stories about people biking hundreds of miles, or running hundreds of miles, for a cause. Today I got a press release announcing that "Professor Henry Sanchez, the Tacolist.com Barefoot Eco-Runner, is running from Argentina to Alaska to bring…
One thing I love about the blog is the help it provides me in clarifying what nagging "voices" I need to pay attention to inside my head. Chuck Hennessey, a well-known funeral director in Spokane, died Saturday of cancer. He had just turned 80 two…
While sitting in church yesterday at St. Al's, I waved to several of the dads I know because I help out in Sunday school. Many of the young families know one another, which means the kids get to know the other moms and dads, too.…
Yesterday I had the privilege of walking with some Friends of the Davenport to remember on his death day, Louis Davenport, who left behind the Davenport Hotel. It was a glorious day for the short stroll in Riverside Memorial Park. And it was refreshing to…
According to the MMD newswire, billionaire Alki David has paid for the rights to stream over the Internet "the legally assisted suicide of Nikolai Ivanisovich (62), who is terminally sick with brain cancer from a clinic in Switzerland with the use of lethal injection administered…
When we look at people who are famous, people who have reached success beyond our own imaginations, we think we have an accurate glimpse into their lives. We do not. Today we learn the sad news of Jeret “Speedy” Peterson’s death – from an apparent…
Though Mary Gordon wrote the book Circling My Mother in 2007, I only now just read it. Her mother had a fascinating life -- she was a career woman long before most women, a polio survivor, a mother who treated her daughter like an adult…
…I would say when violence erupted in Seattle, in Lakewood, at the Uffizi in my beloved Florence. At the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, a wallet was inadvertently left on a bench. The finder turned in the wallet which made its way back to…
The Associated Press reported that a South African man spent 21 hours in a morgue, in the mistaken belief he had died. The man started yelling, prompting morgue workers to run away in fear. They eventually returned and removed him from the fridge. He was…
My mom and I went to a wedding yesterday for a couple who married later in the age game. Their parents have all passed away, but they were not forgotten at the wedding Mass. The siblings of the bride and the groom lighted candles in…
Singer Amy Winehouse has died. I do not recall her music, if I ever heard it, it has left my memory. The only voice I do remember is that of media reports of her on-going demise: alcohol, drugs, strung out, passed out, a self-destructing-train-wreck of…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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