Cancer stopped me from having a third child -- not physically, but mentally. Still, it hasn't taken away my ability to witness first-hand the miracle of childbirth, to hold a brand new baby in my arms, to lose myself in the wonder of an innocent and unburdened life.

Yesterday, my sister had her second baby girl. I was there -- from morning until evening, while she labored for 12 hours and then delivered a perfect, pink, precious bundle of hope. The whole journey made me cry. I cried for the sheer pleasure of being in the room for such a special occasion, for holding my sister's numb and heavy leg in the correct position, for watching a baby plunge into the world, for cutting the umbilical cord. I cried for the pain my sister endured, for the joy of new beginnings, for all that comes next.

For a moment while I held my new niece, I longed for my own baby. Then thoughts of cancer flooded my mind -- combined with thoughts of sleepless nights and endless shrieks and temper tantrums -- and I realized I am happy just as I am, with my own two little boys and a sweet baby girl I plan to borrow as much as possible.

Welcome to the world, Tori!

Should my cancer come back, should my prognosis be poor, should my life approach an abrupt stop, my one wish would be for enough time to leave something meaningful for my children. It would be something written or something on video, something that would allow me to somehow guide my little boys through their years, something that would offer them a lasting impression of me.

This is just what Melanie Worthington, a Michigan mom, did for her five-year-old son after receiving her diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer.

Worthington made video tapes for her little boy, Theo. Her mother helped her, and they taped mother and son making cookies and playing together at a cabin. They tried to capture anything to remind Theo time of spent with his mom.

And then a few weeks after his 39-year-old mom died, Theo's tapes were stolen by someone who walked through an unlocked door at the Worthington home. Also stolen were two camcorders, a portable DVD player, and other assorted tapes.

Virtually all of Theo's video memories are gone. There are no duplicates of the tapes, and police have no suspects in the case.

"It was like someone had come out and taken her away from us a second time," Worthington's sister said.

Melanie, who died Thanksgiving weekend, was living with Theo, her parents, and her sister in a ranch home on a dirt road. Her parents, both on disability and without a lot of financial resources, have pulled together a $200 reward for the return of the tapes.

"Maybe this is one way we can get them back," said Worthington's mom. "I guess I'm hoping for some kind of miracle."

Grammy award winning country musician Freddy Fender died Saturday, just days after he had returned home from the hospital, seriously ill from treatment for lung cancer and a blood infection.

Fender's wife, Vangie Huerta, announced in August that her husband, at the age of 69, was suffering from inoperable cancer and that he was hoping for a miracle. But his cancer spread, and his health declined. Yet his spirits remained high -- and he recently told one newspaper reporter, "I'm one year away from 70 and I've had a good run."

Fender's career began when he returned from service in the Marine Corps in the late 1950s and created his stage name from a brand of guitar -- Fender. Success did not arrive for some time -- and not until after Fender experimented with a rock-country-Latin sound, served time for marijuana possession, and worked for a period of time as a mechanic did fame hit.

Born Baldemar Huerta in 1937, Fender is know for his hits Before the Next Teardrop Falls, Wasted Days and Wasted Nights and You'll Lose a Good Thing. In 1999, Fender received his own Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and he won his third and last Grammy in 2002.

Despite fame, Fender lived a hard life. He spoke openly about his battles with drug and alcohol abuse. He struggled with diabetes and Hepatitis C. And he received a kidney transplant in 2002 and a liver transplant in 2004.

Fender, who passed away at his Corpus Christi home surrounded by family, is survived by his wife and four children.

Just two months after her mother lost her battle with gall bladder cancer, Liane was diagnosed with breast cancer. It all happened earlier this year -- and while Liane is still mourning the loss of her mother, she is also still managing the madness of her own disease. Liane is surviving with courage, with determination, with the same powerful spirit that powered her mother's fight.

Liane lives in a small city -- population 43,000 -- in northern Alberta Canada. She has been happily married for 18 years and has two daughters, ages 13 and 15, and a golden retriever named Sunny. Liane loves to garden, cook, read, and spend time with family. She normally works full-time in a real estate and property management office but has been blessed with six months off for treatment. Liane is already -- without a doubt -- a survivor.

A new line of pomegranate-based supplements, called Pomology, will be revealed this weekend at the 2006 Expo Trade Show in Baltimore, Maryland. According to leading nutritionists and fitness experts, "each product contains a premium blend of proven ingredients that consumers can utilize for immediate relief and long-term health benefits." Target shoppers are those seeking a boost in heart health, prostate health, antioxidant health, joint health, and menopause.

Pomegranates, known for anti-inflammatory effects and high levels of antioxidants, have been used medically for thousands of years and have recently been making headlines for their power to knock out all kinds of health problems, including cancer. Pomology was founded in 2005 by a team of nutritionists and athletic performance experts who created formulas that meet varying lifestyle needs. This product line is promoted as one of highest quality and efficacy.

The information detailed above came directly from a press release.

A few days ago, I wrote a post about Richard Morris of www.breadandmoney.com who argued that sensational press releases about miracle products and potions often land in the hands of the media who broadcast them to the public in a this-will-fix-all-your-problems fashion. Morris states that no one product will fix what ails us without the proper balance of a handful of other practices -- like relaxation, stress reduction, and exercise. It's just not likely that Pomology supplements will result in "immediate relief and long-term health benefits." It's just not. Yet that is what we might gather from this press release. And unless we take on a full-scale lifestyle overhaul, what we gather from taking supplements such as these might just be a whole lot of nothing.

There is someone, or several people -- at the doctor's office, the oncology clinic, the chemotherapy treatment center, the radiation department -- that took the extra moment to comfort you or give you hope or listen to you share your fears or concerns or educate you in how to optimize your chances at cancer survivorship. Perhaps the nutritionist who took a genuine interest and spent time explaining the benefits of a cancer prevention diet.

Healing Baskets features the Miracle Worker Mug and suggests that this might be the perfect gift for a nurse or special caregiver in the health field who took extra time for you during the challenges of cancer treatment. I think it is a delightful idea!

When Denise Ashford was 14 weeks pregnant, a fetal ultrasound scan revealed signs of a tumor in her unborn child. Her child had cancer. The young mother, only 19 years old at the time, was counseled on having an abortion. The cancer her baby had was neuroblastoma, a cancer that forms in nerve tissue of the adrenal gland, neck, chest, or spinal cord. Ashford, and the father Peter Thomas, refused to consider aborting the baby -- they said they would hang on for a miracle.

Each week, tests were done to watch how the unborn baby's tumor was growing. Within weeks, the tumor had begun to shrink.

"The doctors told us that sometimes in very small children this type of tumor can shrink over time. But then over the next four weeks, we were given some even more unbelievable news -- the tumor had disappeared altogether," stated Ashford.

Kiah Thomas came into this world at 6 pounds 1 ounce, and celebrates her fifth birthday as a happy healthy child. At the time of her birth, doctors said it was very rare for cancer to be detected in a baby before birth and then for it to disappear. But it happens. Called spontaneous remission, regression or miracles, stories of cancer patients defying the greatest of odds or having cancer suddenly disappear have always been told, as anecdotal evidence of mysteries we do not fully understand or have yet to seriously study.

For more information about spontaneous remission, the Institute of Noetic Sciences has compiled the largest database of medically reported cases of spontaneous remission in the world by reviewing over 3,500 references, from more than 800 journals in 20 languages, as a step towards expanding our knowledge and understanding of a real phenomenon that occurs, and yet, no one can explain.