Remembering a life cut short by ovarian cancer

(WHAS11) - This Saturday, Kentuckiana remembers a life cut-short by ovarian cancer.

It’s the Dee Edwards Memorial Whisper Walk; whisper, because the symptoms for ovarian cancer are often vague and only whispers to the women who have it.

WHAS11’s Rachel Platt is reporting about a teacher, who left behind valuable lessons to all of us.

“Something about her brown eyes caught my attention,” said Frank Edwards.  There was something about this brown-eyed beauty, named Dee, who stole Frank Edwards’ heart.

The Van Morrison classic became their signature song.  They married and had a son, Sean, but soon after a diagnosis of ovarian cancer would rock their world.

Through what became her six-year battle with ovarian cancer, Dee would write in her journal; mostly to her son.

Some excerpts from that journal are personal and touching:

“…then tonight you asked me when I was going to be a regular mommy; I hate that I can’t run around and dance with you.”

“Remember, no matter how sick I am, I love you.  Love mommy.”

Dee and her son, Sean, shared a love of dancing.  “I heard a saying that goes… dance like nobody’s watching.  I hope you always do that.   It will set you free,” she said to her son in her journal.

A couple of weeks before Dee passed away in April, Sean asked his mom to dance his favorite dance; the Cha-Cha Slide.

Frank took pictures knowing it would be their last dance.  “As weak as she was, it was the last time the two danced together.   I thought I wasn’t going to break down; sorry,” he said as he spoke with Platt.

Seven months after Dee passed away, Frank and Sean are settling into their new routine.  Frank is carrying on without his brown-eyed girl and Sean without his mother.

Dee was a wife, a mother and a teacher at Crosby Middle School, where she taught science and inspired students to learn.  She continues to inspire with lessons in life and death.

In Dee’s honor, Frank is now sponsoring a walk to get the word out about ovarian cancer; a disease that kills about 15,000 women in the U.S. each year.

“To take up this mission and to get the word out about this disease, I want the color teal to become as well known as the color pink, designated for breast cancer.

A disease that took his wife, at just 38 years old, a woman still so young but wise beyond her years.  “If you’re reading this, I have gone to heaven,” read one journal entry.

Dee, living on through her own words in a journal; a journal Frank has shared with family and may publish one day for others.
One entry is a prayer Dee and Sean shared every night before bedtime; his mom making sure it’s a tradition that lives on.

The Dee Edwards Memorial Whisper Walk is Saturday, November 14.  It will begin at the Douglass Hills gazebo, next to Crosby Middle School where Dee taught.

The walk begins 9:00 a.m.  It’s $25 for adults and $15 for students.  The number to call is 708-1625.