Now, I'm sad to write that Banks, who has written 42 books under various pseudonyms, could use some support from her many readers and friends.
The 51-year-old author is gravely ill with late-stage adrenal cancer. Diagnosed seven weeks ago, she's at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital. She's not up to having visitors, so please don't go over there. Nor does she need any more flowers. And she's not up to responding to emails and texts. But if you're inclined to do so, I'm sure she would appreciate prayers.
She certainly could use some about now.
These are difficult times for Banks and those who love her.
Her childhood best friend, Tina Ryan Wise, came from California to be with her.
Friends are in the early stages of organizing a benefit fundraiser to help defray Banks' rapidly increasing health-care bills and other costs associated with her illness.
When she wrote that email to Obama, Banks' health-care insurance premiums had doubled for her and her college-age daughter.
A divorced single mother, she found herself with an insurance bill that nearly equaled her monthly mortgage payment.
"Now, like too many other people, I'm faced with a dilemma: One, do I simply cover my child and go without health care myself, making sure that my child has everything she needs to stay healthy, or do I place myself in jeopardy, which could mean that the breadwinner in my family . . . could face a catastrophic health issue that could wipe out everything and put my kid in peril anyway," Banks said as she introduced Obama.
I met Banks, who grew up in the 4800 block of Osage Avenue, years ago when she joined my writing group.
I had been struggling to figure out the plot of my first novel; she was a veteran with a number of romance novels under the pseudonym Leslie Esdaile.
