MEDINA, Ohio -- A young woman, worried about a lump she has found in her breast, visits the doctor to get a mammogram. Trying to relax, she tells herself, ''Read a magazine ...''
No relief there: She catches herself staring into the cleavage that spills from every cover on the stand.
The anecdote may sound like the black humor of a breast cancer survivor, but it comes from the comics page of your local newspaper.
Funky Winkerbean, a strip drawn and written by Tom Batiuk (rhymes with ''attic'') and carried in 400 newspapers nationwide, is in the midst of a six-month series in which one of the main characters, Lisa Moore, is treated for breast cancer.
The story is winning kudos from breast cancer awareness organizations and survivors of the disease for its accuracy, medically and emotionally.
Batuik says he spent four years researching and creating the series and wanted to portray breast cancer treatment but, beyond that, to empathize with the inward journey the disease leads to.
''The emotional story to me is far more important,'' Batiuk said in an interview in the drawing studio of his rural home about 30 miles south of Cleveland. ''I researched facts to get the protocols defined properly, but to me the anecdotal stories were far more interesting. You got into how the cancer affected not just the woman, but the man, their friends and everybody in their circle.''
In the storyline, Lisa, a recently married woman in her 20s, first feels a pain in her breast when she gets tackled during a friendly pickup football game.
A self-examination confirms her suspicions.
She visits the doctor, is diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoes a mastectomy and chemotherapy.
At the point the series will leave off in June, the situation is still somewhat unresolved. Lisa will survive, but Batiuk says the strip will occasionally address issues touching on her cancer, such as the end of Lisa's chemotherapy and breast reconstruction.
''I'm not going to just ignore it,'' Batiuk said.
Some of the story's most poignant and funny moments come as Lisa and her husband, Les, struggle to come to terms with her disease -- sometimes with a wisecrack, sometimes with a hug.
Regina Brett, a columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal who was treated for breast cancer last year, read the series at Batiuk's request to check it for accuracy.
She said she was amazed at Batiuk's realism, especially since he does not have an immediate relative or close friend with the disease. (The cartoonist says he was inspired by many stories he had heard from acquaintances).
''I read the strips all at once,'' Brett said. ''I cried and felt like I'd relived my own experience in a way. He really caught it.''
The story has received similar praise from breast cancer organizations, which educate people about the affliction expected to strike 175,000 women in the United States this year.
''We think the comic strip is a great venue to increase awareness for young women,'' said Jill McClure, a spokeswoman for the group.
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