Cancer

Consider this. You are in your doctor's office and the tests have come back. The news is not good. The doctor tells you that you have cancer; surgery is essential followed by weeks of chemotherapy, radiation and potentially more treatment. You take a deep breath. Mortality is not on your mind. Your own health and the struggle you face is secondary. What you fear most is the survival of your family, your children's expenses in school, the payment of your mortgage, credit card bills, and food being on the table.

COSTA MESA - What's your preference: handlebar or Fu Manchu? Pencil thin or thick like Tom Selleck's? Come November, one or more of these facial hair styles might slowly emerge onto the once clean-shaven mugs of your local policymakers. As part of a nationwide effort to "change the face of men's health," Costa Mesa councilmen and planning commissioners are participating next month in Movember, a fundraising campaign sponsored by Livestrong and the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

NEWPORT BEACH - Pink covered Davidson Field in a field hockey game at Newport Harbor High between Edison and the Sailors on Tuesday. The ball was pink, instead of the standard orange. There were pink ribbons tying back ponytails of the players. Even the officials wore distinct dark pink jerseys for a Play for the Cure event, with proceeds from sales of pink ribbons going toward Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The result seemed pretty inconsequential compared to the overall cause - Newport Harbor won the Sunset League game, 1-0, on a goal by junior forward Taury Hlinka - but the real winner appeared to be breast cancer research and awareness.

A comedy about cancer isn't easy, but writer Will Reiser and co-star/co-producer Seth Rogen draw from personal experience to give "50/50" that rare blend of raw humor and emotion without artifice. There are no wrong notes in this movie. Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is 26 with a beautiful girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard) and a beautiful mother (Angelica Huston), who both seem self-centered. Adam also has a rare form of cancer. Numbed by the news, he endures insensitive doctors, clueless co-workers and chemotherapy.

President Obama this week awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers to UC Irvine assistant professor Rommie Amaro. "I was pretty surprised — very honored and surprised," said Amaro, 34, an assistant professor of pharmaceutical sciences and computer science and chemistry. "I feel really very, very fortunate to be selected as a recipient of this award. " Amaro's research focuses on discovering new treatments for cancer, influenza, chlamydia and neglected diseases such as African sleeping sickness, Chagas disease and Leishmaniasis disease.

NEWPORT BEACH - The Hoag Hospital Breast Care Center unveiled new 3-D mammography technology Wednesday that will enable doctors to detect cancer in dense breast tissue. The Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) is the first of its kind in the state. Hoag Hospital Irvine will also feature the new technology by the end of the year, said the center's director, Dr. Gary Levine. "I expect this technology will eventually roll out to other centers in the state," Levine said. "This really is a step forward in breast-cancer detection and, like with any advancement in technology, you need a site to be the leader.

Though he overcame cancer, Jack Marshall Shimko was no match for the recent large ocean swells and rough seas off the Southern California coast. The Newport Beach native had to divert his quest to paddle to each of the eight Channel Islands - more than 200 miles - and was forced to skip an island and rest for a day. But Shimko picked up his paddle again Monday and resumed his quest. This, his second annual Paddle 2 Live, concludes at the Newport Pier on Saturday. Saturday's events, including a stand-up paddling race and an after party, are intended to raise funds for the John Wayne Cancer Foundation.

NEWPORT BEACH — Friends and family of Robert Sattler filled the pews of St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church on Saturday morning to celebrate the life of the well-respected community figure. Sattler, a long-time Corona del Mar Residents Assn. board member, cycling enthusiast and avid sailor, died Aug. 1. He was 90. Sattler, known as "Biking Bob," died from bladder cancer at his Newport Beach home surrounded by friends and family, according to his obituary that ran in the Daily Pilot on Aug. 4. He was remembered as a "great inspiration" who possessed a "heart of gold," said family members during the hour-long service at the Corona del Mar church.

This is the third in an occasional series about homelessness in Costa Mesa. COSTA MESA - A three-tiered fountain covered with blue tiles and topped with a pair of dolphins greets visitors at the entrance to the Costa Mesa Motor Inn. Doors to the motel's rooms are shut. Many of the rooms are dark and quiet. In others, blaring televisions interrupt the silence. Behind some of these doors are patients recently discharged from Orange County hospitals. They are deemed well enough to go home, but have no homes to go to. Through the Irvine-based Illumination Foundation, homeless who are in recovery after major surgeries, comas, cancer and other emergencies requiring hospitalization are placed in O.C. motels like the Motor Inn until it's time to move on. At times the efforts of the foundation, known as the IF, have been at odds with the city's goals for improving and gentrifying declining pockets of Harbor Boulevard.

To many newly single women, cleaning out the closet can be just as cathartic as sitting on a therapist's couch. The Divorcée Sale, which runs Friday through Sunday at the Resort at Pelican Hill, is a way for women to shed pieces of their past for a good cause. Jill Alexander, founder of The Divorcée Sale , wanted to find a way to combine her love for fashion and philanthropy with a point of transformation in many women's lives: divorce. "I've never even been married," Alexander said with a laugh.