Cancer chooses blindly
By Michael Johnson, Editor
When it comes to battles, Erwin "Percy" Bruestle and Claudia Gordon have fought valiantly. The two Riverdale residents are regular folks that regularly meet up at the Riverdale Knights Lodge. Gordon works there part time, while Bruestle drops in daily for a drink. Other than that, the two are years apart, Bruestle in his 80s, Gordon in her 50s. Yet they share a bond. They both fought colon cancer, and at this point, they are winning. They are healthy individuals that have lived their lives focused on more important things than dying. Gordon’s mother had colon cancer and her brother, sister and brother-in-law all had lung cancer. After seeing what her mother went through with cancer, it changed her outlook on life. She ate healthfully and worked out regularly. "I said ‘I’m never gonna let that happen to me,’" Gordon said. "And boom, it did." At 54, Gordon was diagnosed with colon cancer.
