Fran Mikles

March 25, 1933 – September 11, 2005

Fran Mikles was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in the year 2000. An active outdoors woman, she first noticed she was having some abdominal discomfort while trying to work in her garden. It was a huge shock to receive a cancer diagnosis.

She is a patient of Dr. Andrew Berchuck at the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center. She, Dr. Berchuck and Nurse Charlotte Gilbert have faced a tough cancer journey for the past 5 years. While the road has been bumpy, Fran has remained a positive, upbeat, and gusty lady. Fran has led an interesting life. As a child, she grew up in an orphanage. While most of us might have thought that to be a sad experience, Fran savored all the richness it offered. To this day she remains in contact with her "extended family" and friends from her childhood days.

Before retirement, Fran worked and volunteered in Hillsborough, NC. As an active member of her church community in Raleigh, Fran is a spiritual person who has modeled her life after doing good unto others. The joy of her life is her daughter Renee. She will proudly tell you about her wonderful son-in-law John. Fran believes that God has a special plan for all of us. Her faith and determination have helped to support her. Her smile and laugh light up any room.

She is one terrific lady!

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My mother had never been sick a day in her life until she was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer in May 2000. But her willpower was only superceeded by her faith, and she was determined that cancer would not prevent her from living her life to the fullest.

After surgery, she went through the initial rounds of chemo and had been in remission nearly a year when the cancer returned in her liver. Several more rotations of chemo kept the cancer under control for several years, and allowed her many opportunities to rib Dr. Berchuck when her beloved Tar Heels defeated the Blue Devils on the field or the court.

For more than five years, she held on for dear life. She was an inspiration to so many people, either because they or their families were also fighting cancer, or in her witness of the joy that Jesus brought to her life. She went home to meet Him on a glorious Sunday morning, very peacefully with her family at her side. I will miss her with every breath I take.

Her loving daughter, Renee Hoffman