Father-Son Team Honors Late Wife, Mother in Cancer Event
Brody Westfall of Lakeland has had another reason to anticipate his upcoming 16th birthday.
Brody, a sophomore at George Jenkins High School, is finally old enough to participate in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, an annual event that raises money for breast cancer research, education and treatment.
Brody and his father, Mark Westfall, have distinctly personal reasons for doing the Tampa Bay 3-Day, a 60-mile walk to be held Oct. 28 to 30. Every step they take will honor the memory of Jean Marie Westfall, Mark's wife and Brody's mother, who died of cancer in 2000 at age 35.
The Westfalls will be joined in the 3-Day walk by Joan Miller-Caramalis, a friend of both and a breast cancer survivor. (Participants must be at least 16 by the end of the year in which the relay takes place.)
On a recent afternoon, Brody sat in a booth at Fat Jack's Deli-Pub, the Lakeland restaurant his father owns, plumbing memories of his mother, who died when he was 4.
"I remember her losing her hair and having to get a wig and stuff," Brody said, fingering a pink wrist band with the inscription "Check Yourself. Keep A Breast.
