At last I have learned the result of all the wonderful postcards the Mudcatters sent to the swing dance teacher Marc Shepanek last June. The postcards were sent from around the world and were intended to cheer him up as he battled cancer.

Read about it on this thread: BS: Request for Postcards from Mudcatters .

Last night I saw Marc running a USO swing dance at Glen Echo Park and he looks wonderful. This is the first time I have seen or spoken to him since I posted, requesting the cards getting sent to him. He has not regrown his big bushy beard, so he looks 15 years younger and even more good-looking.

Marc did not know who I was (I'm one of hundreds of students he's taught in group classes), so I shyly inquired about his health. He said he was fine. That didn't take me where I needed to go, so I asked him if he was still getting postcards from Iceland and Wales.

His face lit up! "So YOU'RE the one!! I wondered where all those postcards came from, from all those very kind people - some with no return addresses. It was wonderful, especially when all I could manage to do was go up and down stairs once a day."

"Please tell them all thank you so very much. It made such a difference to me. I've just had a check up and a pet scan and after six months I am doing really well. Of course you don't know for two years, but I'm optimistic. Please also tell the people that I'm paying it forward. This winter I'm going to be reading stories to children with cancer, and I'm going to be helping old people who can't write letters anymore to send letters for them. I'm paying it forward.

So I thank everybody who wrote to Marc. It was fun for me, too.

--Linda