It’s on television and the movies all the time, but we don’t ever expect to experience it in real life. A doctor sitting down behind his desk, a grim look on his face, to give you bad news: You have cancer.
Jan Tucker lived that nightmare when she learned she would need a bilateral mastectomy to help battle breast cancer.
“When I picked up the phone, I hear her say, ‘I’m sorry,'” Tucker told reporter B.C. Manion about her conversation with her doctor. “I hear her voice crack. Then she starts with the doctor jargon.”
She knew it would be a difficult journey, and she didn’t want to forget it. So she turned to her brother, Paul Phillips, to help her chronicle it in an amazingly artistic way.
Tucker eventually went through the mastectomy, and later reconstructive surgery, chronicling each step in ceramic torso busts. But she never expected to ever make it public. But she was convinced to do just that, and it will be on display at the Alchemy Art Lounge and Hard Bodies Yo gallery in Tarpon Springs Oct. 9.
“There really is no better way to illustrate the story than that,” Tucker said. “I am a different person today because of this.”
Proceeds from the event will benefit cancer charities. To learn more about Tucker’s struggles with cancer, and to see the artwork that will go on display in a couple weeks, check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, or you can read it online for free right now by clicking here.
Every few years, swimming takes the spotlight in the sports world as we cheer on the United States in events like the Olympic games. It’s a lot of hard work, and takes tremendous skill. But it’s doubtful any of those swimmers faced the challenge of one young competitor at Zephyrhills High School.
Taylor Sanders took to the pool recently in Land O’ Lakes, and competed against Sunlake in the 50-meter freestyle. Yet, just weeks before, she spent months in a body cast following surgery to help correct some issues created by cerebral palsy.
In fact, Taylor was never even supposed to walk, let alone swim. But she never let that stop her.
“We had a No. 1 rule. The ‘C’ word was not allowed in our house, and that’s ‘can’t’ or ‘cannot,'” Taylor’s mother, Vanessa Sanders, told reporter Michael Murillo.
“I’ve always loved swimming since I was little,” Taylor said. “And I have a very competitive attitude, so competing while I’m doing something I love is just amazing.”
Fans can see Taylor in action throughout the swimming competitive season for Zephyrhills, and read more about her in this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, which is now available in driveways and stores everywhere. Or you can stay at your computer and check out our free online e-edition by clicking here.
Finally, you might have driven by a bunch of construction on State Road 54 near the Suncoast Parkway and wondered what was up.
Newland Communities, the developer of popular large-scale communities like FishHawk Ranch in Brandon, unveiled details of what it is doing on the Bexley Ranch site, including new retail stores, office space, and some 1,700 homes in its first phase of development.
“We’ve got our plans in review at Pasco County right now, and we think we’ll break ground in March or April next year,” Newland vice president Tom Panaseny told a small crowd who gathered near the work site to learn more about the project. “We haven’t even announced any of the builders yet. But the builders really almost come in last, once we develop the community and figure out what type of homes that we want to build.”
But how much will homes cost there? And what can potential buyers expect from this new community, that will help get Tower Road built east and west across the county? Read reporter Michael Hinman’s story in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, or get all the details right now through our online edition by clicking here.
All of these stories and more can be found in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, available in newsstands throughout east and central Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough County. Find out what has your community talking this week by getting your local news straight from the only source you need.
If The Laker/Lutz News is not coming to your door, call us to see where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800, or read our free e-edition by clicking here.
