Although the episode took place many years ago, R. Jane Williams still gets a lump in her throat when she thinks about the nine months she spent counseling a young mother dying of breast cancer. The client’s wrenching story of her husband’s initial denial of her illness would have pained any counselor, as would the grief she expressed concerning the thought of leaving two young children behind. But Williams was particularly affected by the story because she, too, had faced breast cancer and experienced the fear of leaving her child motherless.