Missouri Authors

Nordies at Noon

Posted at August 18, 2006 11:34

By Anita Neal Harrison

When Kim Carlos, a native of Hallsville, found a lump in her breast at age thirty, she called Patti Balwanz, a friend she made at Missouri State University at Springfield. Patti, who’s from Columbia, could empathize because she had found a lump at age twenty-four. She could also introduce Kim to two more young women fighting breast cancer: Jana Peters and Jennifer Johnson, both diagnosed at age twenty-seven.

Kim joined the monthly meetings Patti, Jana, and Jennifer had been having at Nordstram’s Cafe in Overland Park, Kansas. At one of these meetings, they decided to write a book together. “We’ve been able to lean on each other and support each other, but a lot of women don’t have that, and we wanted to help them,” Kim says.

A few months ago, the friends released Nordie’s at Noon. Every chapter begins with a discussion set at Nordstram’s and then presents
four first-person accounts of the women’s experiences.

Those experiences varied widely in part because the four women received their diagnoses at different stages in their lives. Patti was single, Jana was planning her wedding, Jennifer was five months pregnant, and Kim was planning her son’s second birthday party.

Each woman writes from a different perspective, but they all use humor and unusual honesty in their tales. “The book is about a serious subject, but it’s also about living life to the fullest,” Kim says.

Writing Nordie’s at Noon took three years in part because Patti faced a recurrence. On March 29, 2003, she passed away. While fighting her last battle, she insisted her friends finish the book.

“She always said, ‘We didn’t go through this just to help one person; we went through this to help thousands,’” Kim says.

For more on Nordie’s at Noon and the four authors or to order the book ($15.95 plus tax), visit www.nordiesatnoon.com.

February 2006

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