Rallying around Michelle French

Michelle French is one of the most highly-decorated soccer players in the history of the State of Washington.

Her battle with cancer has been known for a while, but today it gets front and center treatment with this story in the Seattle P-I.

Seven weeks have now passed, and French is back coaching her girls and working out. The swelling has disappeared. So has her curly hair. She had it shaved off after it started falling out in clumps. She is receiving six chemotherapy treatments to shrink the tumor. She has a very optimistic 90 percent chance of recovery. All that swelling was a blessing.

"It's pretty lucky," she said. "If it wasn't in the spot it was in, they might not have found it in time. It sort of backed up the plumbing."

More amazing is how French had handled her ordeal. There's been no panic, despair or loss of control -- sort of how she handled herself as an elite soccer player. Forget any medical privacy issues. She wanted to share her situation with everyone in her world.

If you would like to help Michelle out, check out these:
Several fundraising efforts have been started in the local soccer community to help defray Michelle French's burgeoning medical costs. Donations can be sent directly to Team Frenchie, P.O. Box 880, Issaquah, WA 98027-0032. Soccer mom Linda Whatley is urging local teams and others to buy red wristbands inscribed with the words "Team Frenchie" and "Just Kickin' It" by e-mailing her at ltwhatley@comcast.net. The Washington Youth Soccer Association is raffling off a trip for two to watch Manchester United play at Old Trafford football stadium in England, with details available at wsysa.com.