A Special Bond

By Jo Ann Checkovich

I first met Casey while she was covering a University of South Carolina basketball game at the Carolina Coliseum. I'm sure she had been there before but I had never spoken with her.

This paticular night however was the first game I had worked since the death of my daughter Suzanne. Casey caught my eye with her attire that evening. You see she had a scarf on her head and I could tell by the soft fold around her face that she had lost her hair.

As I walked closer to her, I heard her joking with the other reporters about the loss of her hair. As a mother who had been through the battle of cancer with a super hero of a daughter, I knew all the signs and language.

I fought back tears because I knew my daughter would not be very proud of me if I spoke to Casey and had an emotional moment. I finally found the courage to speak to her and let her know that I knew she was fighting a battle. I told her my daughter had been through a similar experience and I knew a little about the strength it took to wage such a battle.

Casey asked me how she was doing and my answer to her was she was well and happy. I did not lie and as Casey's brother so eloquently put it "she had her had in the hand of Jesus when she breathed her last breath". Actually I believe it was Casey who told her brother that.

Over the next several years we e-mailed back and forth and I would see her at occasional South Carolina ballgames. She did not know for the first year that my daughter had died. She asked me point blank one day at a game how she was and I had to tell her. I reminded her that as she well knew each journey was different and that is why I had not told her before.

I kept her e-mails because she was such a gifted writer but in main part because she spoke of her battle and had such inspiring words to light up many days. Like many other people who have written about her, I felt her incredible life force everytime I was around her.

I did not know of her death until football season started at South Carolina this year. I have spent the last several weeks thinking about her and feeling much the same as I do about my incredible daughter. While the world sometimes feels empty without my wonderful Suzanne and vivacious Casey, so many lives were touched and blessed with the pleasure of having been able to share their lives even if the time was much too short.

To Casey's parents and family - I met her, I admired her, I grew to care very much for her and she will always remain in my heart. Thank you for sharing Casey with all of us.