Dana woke up to find her parents seated in comfortable chairs in the living area of her private hospital room suite. It was two days after the surgery. She was scheduled to be released the following day. Sharon, Irwin, and Howie had just arrived back in Los Angeles late the night before and had stayed at a hotel near the hospital. They met Bette for breakfast and she’d filled them in on Dana’s prognosis which wasn’t great but with the proper treatment and after-care she could beat the cancer and live a happy productive life.

Dana smiled weakly at them as they came closer to her bed standing together on one side. Her mother stood in front of her father but he was close behind her with his hand on her shoulder; partly for support and partly to hold himself up. It broke his heart to see his beautiful athletic daughter looking so fragile and defeated. Bette had warned them what to expect but she’d also told them to keep an optimistic attitude and not to do or say anything that would be detrimental to their daughter’s full recovery.

They understood that Dana’s survival was contingent on her will to fight. In order to do so she had to be surrounded by positive energy and people who believed that she could win the battle against cancer. She had to know she had the support of her medical team, friends, family, fans and the advances in cancer treatments as part of her arsenal to do it. They had to be strong where she couldn’t be so she could draw her strength from the love and care they showed.

“Mom, Dad.”

“Hello sweetheart.”

“My darling baby girl.”

“How long have you guys been here?”

“Just a little while. We didn’t want to disturb your sleep.”

“Where are Howie … and Lara?”

“They are just outside in the waiting room with Bette. We’ll go get them in a minute. We just wanted a few minutes alone with you first. How are you doing?”

“Did Bette talk to you?”

“Yes she explained everything. Dana darling why didn’t you tell us? We were so worried about you. Had we known we would never have gone to Europe or even thought of taking the cruise at this time?”