Michelle

My friend, Michelle Salerno, passed away last night.  Michelle had been fighting cancer for the past 10 years (Hodgkin's disease) and lost her fight (due to fungal pneumonia).

Michelle and I met in 1988 while students at Illinois College.  She was the polar opposite of me: outgoing, a social butterfly, skinny, beautiful.  I was withdrawn and quiet (though some friends might disagree with that!).  We were in French classes together, and back then, there weren't many of us who were majoring in French, so we gravitated towards each other.  In 1989, we both competed for travel awards to study abroad.  I won the big one, she won a smaller one, but we both got to spend time in France.  It was awesome for each of us and we both became good friends.

After college, we stayed in touch (not hard since we were both from the Chicago area, which at the time was a rarity for IC students!).  I eventually went to work for her dad, who had a hot dog business, and I worked for him for the next 10+ years (part-time spring-fall).  To this day, that job will go down as my all-time favorite job EVER.

Michelle was social and for many years, she and I would gather with a group of her other friends to go to bars and hang out.  It wasn't always my scene, so there were times when she really had to drag me there.  On one occasion in the early 90's, we took part in a dragon boat race in St. Charles.  It was there that I met her friend, Paul.  What followed shortly after that was an incident in a bar where Paul threw a beer on me, and I'll never forget Michelle's face when that happened--she grabbed me and we both ran out to the parking lot, where we were stunned about what had happened.  Hard to believe that was 20 years ago and that since that time, I've married that beer-throwing man.

I won't forget the moment when Michelle told me she had been diagnosed with cancer.  We thought it would be an easy fight, but alas, it wasn't.  We were close for many of those years and I look back now and remember all the hospital and home visits, and adventures Michelle and I took together during her fight.  The last few years, we lost touch and hadn't spoken, though I know she had had some tough times with her health this past year.

Last night, she was reunited with her dad, who passed away just over 3 years ago from ALS.  He was her strongest supporter and I think her heart was broken when he died.  Her mom and brothers also stood beside her every step of her journey.  Please pray for them as they now come to grips with the loss of their beautiful child and sister.

Good night, Michelle.  You fought more bravely than anyone I know.  May you always rest in peace.