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Not only was I unaware that she was sick, I never even heard of her before.

I read fast though.

She sounds as if she was a woman after my own heart.

I also have been reading about the Iditerod over the last few years.

It seems that there was an outbreak of Diphtheria, and Alaskan communities were in many cases rather isolated during the Winter months just a few decades ago before the Alaskan bush pilot phenomenon became manifest. Way before actually.

The Iditerod celebrates the great effort of heroes who engaged themselves on a jaunt which required terrific sacrifice, great stamina, and little reward.

What a wonderful tribute it truly is to those heroes.

Too bad for us all that this woman has met our Maker so prematurely. I will grieve, at least for a time.

Radix...she was a classy lady. LOL! She even took her dogs and a sled and was on one of the night shows...Letterman or Leno or ???? She really loved her dogs, as most all mushers do. She rotated them in and out of the house. She's been fighting an uphill battle. The movie, Balto, is a cartoon, but tells the story.

She will be missed.

RACING ACROSS ALASKA'S WILDERNESS

"I have been known to walk in front of my team for 55 miles, with snow shoes, to lead them through snow storms, in non-racing situations, where I could have just as easily radioed for a plane to come and get me."

Susan Howlet Butcher was an animal lover, a business woman, a wife and a mother. She was also called "the best competitive dog sled racer in the universe." Before her, there were many women who competed in sports, but not many who entered the race called the Iditarod, one that took her 1,152 miles across the Alaskan wilderness, enduring 100 m.p.h. winds, artic blizzards, snow blindness, wild animals, thin ice, sleep deprivation, avalanches, and whatever else mother nature felt like throwing at a person up in the land of the midnight sun.

Butcher won this race wins four times in a row, so often that "Iditarod," as well as the sport of mushing, became synonymous with her name.

It would be hard to say whether Alaska found Butcher or Butcher found Alaska. Drawn to the great northern wilderness from her love of animals and disdain for cities when she was 20 years old, she became an outspoken advocate for wildlife and the environment, and educated the public about caring for dogs and cats.

Combining an arduous training schedule for herself and her dogs with an ability to focus on a goal with extraordinary discipline and singleminded force, Susan Butcher was a true champion -- one of those few who are able to dominate a sport to the extent that, in the minds of millions, they become unofficial spokespersons for anything to do with it.

The rest of the story

Whoa....She grew up in Boston....both of these stories need a fact checker, but aren't too bad. You can Google stories about her.

Susan's web site