Stories from Sunday, October 14, 2012

By NOREEN HYSLOP Managing Editor Jackie McKuin never thought her name would be linked to a cancer diagnosis. There is no history of breast cancer in her family. She lives an exceptionally healthy lifestyle that includes daily exercise and regular screenings, and she has regularly performed self breast exams to help assure her good health...

By SCOTT WELTON SEMO News Service and NOREEN HYSLOP Managing Editor LILBOURN, Mo. -- Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, may have started out with gray skies, but for Brendan Wallis, a 10-year-old from Lilbourn, it was all sunshine and smiles. "He comes in every day smiling," said his physical education coach, Joseph McClarty...

The two-year old son of a former Dexter woman and grandson of Dean and Carolyn Carrol of Dexter, is facing the challenges of ganglioneuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer. Mike and Elizabeth (Carrol) Albritton now reside near St. Louis, where both are teachers. Mike is a fifth grade teacher in the Ft. Zumwalt School District and Elizabeth is a psychological examiner in the Francis Howell School District...

By NOREEN HYSLOP Managing Editor The body found in rural Dexter on Thursday, Sept. 6 has finally been positively identified as that of 37-year-old Shawn Byron Smith, a former resident of Dexter, it was learned Friday. Smith's body was discovered in a grassy area behind a residence on County Road 403 on Thursday, Sept. 6, 2012. Because of significant decomposition having taken place prior to the finding, the body was sent to the St. Louis Medical Examiner's Office for positive identification...