Author: Dan Clouser

Yesterday, my sister-in-law, Cheryl Mankel passed away after a long battle with cancer.  She was only 72.

We arrived back in Pennsylvania on May 6th.  Our original plan was to be here until July 5th and then we’d head west to Colorado so that I could conduct podcast interviews at the BFA Nationals like I did last year.

We’d be staying in several family members yards and driveways between Berks and Perry County.  Our first stop would be at Cheryl’s house until May 20th.  She had been battling cancer for several years and we didn’t know how much time she had left.  We had spoken to her several times during the week leading up to our arrival and were looking forward to spending time with her.

She had treatment scheduled for the day that we were arriving and when she went in, she found out that she would also need a blood transfusion.  When we arrived at her house around 5:30 in the evening, she was back home from her treatment and already in bed for the night.  Completely wiped out from the process that took place earlier in the day.

I can’t necessarily speak for Sandy, but when I first saw her, I was shocked.  She had looked like she had aged ten years in the four months since I had last seen her.  Fortunately, I was able to see her in December when I had to come back to Pennsylvania to take care of some business.  During that visit Cheryl told me that if anything ever happened to me, she’d take care of Sandy.