Boise State basketball player Coby Karl, son of Denver Nuggets coach George Karl, had surgery 13 months ago to remove his thyroid after he was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma, a form of treatable cancer. And while Karl received chemotherapy to kill off any lingering cancer cells, he must undergo cancer surgery once again.

Karl, who plans to play in the NABC All-Star game in Atlanta on March 31, will return to Boise on April 2 for surgery to remove cancerous lymph nodes.

The lymph node cancer was identified in January, but Karl, 23, kept his condition private until his team lost to New Mexico State in the Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinals. This ended the Broncos' season. And now begins Karl's second go-round with cancer.

You may remember Karl as one of last year's NBA draft hopefuls. He worked out for three teams, including his dad's team, but eventually withdrew his name from the draft and returned to Boise State for his senior year.

At the end of November, EarthLink CEO Garry Betty took a medical leave of absence from his job to fight adrenocortical cancer, a serious form of cancer characterized by a tumor that occurs in the adrenal glands above the kidneys. On Tuesday, Betty died at his Atlanta home from complications of the disease. He was 49.

Betty joined the internet service provider EarthLink in 1996 and helped the regional company grow from a provider with 500,000 subscribers into a national powerhouse with more than five million subscribers.

"Garry was instrumental in building EarthLink into the company it is today," EarthLink Chairman Robert M. Kavner said in a recent statement.

EarthLink was just one of Betty's successful ventures. He began his career at IBM Corp. and won the IBM President's Excellence Award in 1982 for his work on the company's personal computer. He also served as CEO of Digital Communications Associates Inc. and at the time became the youngest CEO of a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Betty, who graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1979 with a degree in chemical engineering, was responsible for 2,200 EarthLink employees. And in support of his team, he attended the company's 2006 Christmas party just three weeks after receiving his diagnosis.

"He put on a tux and came out for a night to make all of us feel better," said Mike Lunsford, interim EarthLink CEO. "And he succeeded."

Betty is survived by his wife, Kathy.

EarthLink President and CEO Garry Betty was diagnosed just days ago with a serious form of cancer, and he will take a medical leave of absence in order to tackle the disease head on.

"Garry is a fierce competitor and has the determination to beat this disease," said EarthLink founder Sky Dayton.

Betty, at one time the New York Stock Exchange's youngest listed CEO, joined the EarthLink team in 1996 and has earned tremendous respect and recognition among the Internet, financial, and business communities. He is now earning support as he takes on his newest challenge -- cancer.

Mike Lunsford, executive vice president of voice and access at EarthLink, will act as interim CEO and will immediately take on Betty's daily responsibilities.

Atlanta-based internet service provider EarthLink has earned an award-winning reputation for outstanding customer service. Serving more than five million subscribers, EarthLink offers high-quality connectivity, minimal online intrusions, and customizable features.

When Patsy Ramsey passed away from a recurrence of ovarian cancer two months ago, many felt she died under the shadow of suspicion concerning her possible involvement in the murder of her six-year-old daughter JonBenet, whose beaten and strangled body was found by her father John Ramsey in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado.

At the time of Patsy Ramsey's death, the family attorney Lin Wood said, "I think people will remember Patsy as being someone who was falsely accused in connection with the death of her daughter when she should be remembered for being an incredibly loving mother, wonderful wife, and person who showed great courage in fighting a vicious disease over the last many years."

Today, breaking news reveals that a suspect has been arrested in the murder of JonBenet. Confessing to elements of the crime, the 42-year-old American second-grade school teacher John Karr was apprehended in Thailand.

John Ramsey confirmed in a written statement that Patsy was aware of the authorities interest in the suspect and she died knowing that the case was about to be solved and the murderer of her child was about to be brought to justice. She did not leave this world not knowing.

Patsy Ramsey, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1993, and suffered a recurrence of cancer in 2003, has lost her life to cancer. Ramsey is the mother of murdered child beauty pageant winner JonBenet, whose beaten and strangled body was found by her father John Ramsey in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. JonBenet's murder remains unsolved and while her parents insisted that an unknown intruder entered the home, her parents were extensively investigated as possible suspects in the murder. Although cleared by a grand jury and lie detector testing, suspicion followed both John and Patsy Ramsey regarding JonBenet's death.

According to the family attorney Lin Wood, "I think people will remember Patsy as being someone who was falsely accused in connection with the death of her daughter when she should be remembered for being an incredibly loving mother, wonderful wife, and person who showed great courage in fighting a vicious disease over the last many years." Patsy Ramsey was 49.

08.16.2006 UPDATE: Patsy Ramsey: daughter JonBenet murderer arrested.

At the same Atlanta meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology where the breast cancer drug Tykerb was touted as perhaps the next wonder drug, findings were also released concerning chemotherapy and end-stage cancer. It seems that many patients in the last weeks and days of their lives are receiving chemotherapy -- when it is clear that there is no hope for survival. Perhaps patients don't want to give up and so they choose to fight to the very end. I think I would be hard-pressed to throw in the towel if a doctor thought I might benefit from continued treatment. Miracles do happen.

Doctors may be part of the problem, though, according to researchers. Patients don't want to give up -- and neither do doctors. But cancer specialists report that overly aggressive treatment gives false hope and puts people though unnecessary suffering and costly ordeals when hospice would be a more effective route. The purpose of hospice -- to help people die with dignity and in comfort -- is ineffective, however, when it's not used to its full potential. A large review of Medicare records showed in 1999 that nearly 12 percent of cancer patients died after receiving chemotherapy in the last two weeks of life. This was up from 1993 -- 10 percent -- and is probably higher today. These individuals could have been peacefully preparing for death and instead were suffering through the trials of harsh treatment.

The solution -- that must be implemented by doctors -- is a willingness to accept that there is a time to stop followed by an honest conversation with the patient whose cancer has spread widely and is incurable.

Another study presented at this Atlanta meeting revealed that some patients are not being offered newer treatments that might truly save their lives. New lung cancer treatments have extended survival from 20 percent at one year to 50 percent, for example. Yet only 11 percent of doctors in one Wisconsin study would refer such patients for treatment.

It would be nice to know for sure that one life is about to end, regardless of treatment, and to know that another might be saved because of treatment. And maybe one day -- when treating cancer is an exact science -- this will be a reality.

Someone once told me to think of cancer as a chronic condition -- an illness like diabetes or asthma that may linger for life and may require continual treatment. And while battling cancer, perhaps for life, I should just hope that medical advances occur and new treatments become available. And maybe, just maybe, the science of medicine will decrease by leaps and bounds the number of people who die from cancer.

During my own battle with cancer -- which has been 18 months long -- two new breast cancer drugs have hit the scene with rave reviews from researchers and medical professionals. This is good news for me because my type of breast cancer makes me a candidate for both drugs. Herceptin is one of these drugs -- given to women who are HER-2/neu positive -- that's me -- and over express a protein that makes the tumor aggressive. Herceptin is received over 52 weeks -- and I go every three weeks for a 90-minute infusion of this clear liquid that causes me really no side effects at all. It can be toxic to the heart but monitoring tests have revealed that my heart is not suffering at this time. And with just three more infusions to go -- one this Wednesday -- I will likely encounter no adverse reactions to this potentially life-saving drug.

And now Tykerb is making headlines. Tykerb, suggested for use with advanced breast cancer and manufactured by British-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC, is an experimental drug that delays the growth of tumors nearly twice as long as standard chemotherapy in patients who no longer respond to Herceptin. This finding, reported this past Saturday at a meeting in Atlanta of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, confirms initial findings about the promise of this drug -- that like Herceptin, made by Genentech, precisely targets tumors without killing lots of healthy cells. The difference between the two drugs is that Herceptin blocks the protein on the cell's surface and Tykerb does it inside the cell -- blocking a second abnormal protein too. And while Herceptin is given intravenously, Tykerb is given in pill form -- which may make it cheaper and easier to use.

While now part of an international study, Tykerb may be available to women in the United States later this year. And it perhaps will be offered in conjunction with Herceptin or instead of Herceptin for women with advanced breast cancer.

I hope I do not ever need Tykerb -- and that Herceptin alone will be enough for me -- but it is comforting to know that there is something else out there. Something that if necessary, just might help me live with this potentially chronic condition called cancer.

On Mother's Day, the Atlanta Braves and the Susan G. Komen Foundation will wrap up a week of breast cancer charity fundraising by hosting Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Breast cancer survivors will receive a free ticket to the game that day, attend a pre-game hospitality reception, and be given an Atlanta Braves Breast Cancer Awareness t-shirt. Also, before the game, breast cancer survivors -- with family and friends -- will participate in a Walk in the Park parade around the field and a field ceremony to celebrate breast cancer survivors. There will be an Atlanta Braves 50/50 raffle to benefit the Atlanta 2-Day Walk for Breast Cancer. The Shades of Pink Breast Cancer Mass Choir will sing the National Anthem. For more information, visit the Atlanta Braves website.