TRR photo by Krista Gromalsk Karen Haag with her Shar-Pei, Yuengling. (Click for larger image)

Surviving breast cancer

By KRISTA GROMALSKI

WILKES-BARRE - When I first met my friend Karen Haag, she had a sign above her living room door that read, "Do ja wanna dance?" She had a sunny rooftop that we fondly called "the verandah," just outside the kitchen door of her third-floor apartment on Barney Street in Wilkes-Barre.

Back in the days when I drove a faster car and stomped around in ripped jeans with my freshly-squeezed poems shoved in the back pockets, I spent many an evening stargazing on Karen's verandah.

We were introduced in 1991 when she'd become the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Wilkes University. I'd just graduated, and by no means claimed to know anything about sports, but the Wilkes community is a close one and our paths crossed quite a bit. Down the road I played a two-year gig in the University's PR office and our friendship continued.

The thing that has always struck me about Karen is her sharp wit and zesty attitude. She's a perfect point guard size, but she's got moxy.

In almost ten years of coaching the Wilkes women, she's maintained faith in her players and has allowed them the opportunity to grow as individuals as well as a team.

Even in the off season she coaches, traveling around the world to lead international youth leagues. I can remember howling into a didgeridoo on the verandah upon her return from Australia, and blasting Rosemary Clooney's "Mambo Italiano" when she arrived home from Italy.

Unfortunately, this attitude of Karen's was put to the test last year when, at age 37, she was diagnosed with Stage I (One) breast cancer in her left breast. The news came in the middle of her season. "I had my lump for over a year," Karen said. "I had mammograms... had it checked and was told it was fine."