Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims has a personal battle to fight. She announced today she has breast cancer and is undergoing surgery to treat it. She is a courageous woman -- Fresno's first female sheriff -- and I wish her well as she faces this very personal threat.

If you would like to send good thoughts her way, you can write to her at 2200 Fresno St., Fresno, CA 93721 or send e-mail greetings to margaret.mims@fresnosheriff.org.

She plans to work from home after the surgery and will resume her duties full-time in a few weeks. I have many friends who have emerged victorious over breast cancer, most recently my colleague Tracy Correa, who writes for the business department. I am sure that Sheriff Mims will win, too, but it is not easy. What will undoubtedly soon happen is that she will receive a truckload of support from the many strong Valley women who are also walking this dark and frightening road. It's a lot less scary when you are not alone and I've found Valley "sisters" to be unbelievably supportive of each other in adversity.

Click here to see Tracy's moving multimedia story, which ran in The Bee last fall and is still available on the Web site.