Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • 9

A PROFILE IN COURAGE FACTS ABOUT DISEASE Fran Egan's latest foe is deadly Feisty SEPTA exec a former state rep chief is battling bone cancer 1 1 1 By CHRIS BRENNAN brennacphillynews.com 5 i. Fran Egan, suffering the same form of cancer as former Democratic vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, continues to joke despite the severity of her condition. FRAN EGAN stood in the middle of a media maelstrom in March, the calm voice of SEPTA countering the strike-threatening rhetoric of the agency's largest labor union. The only outward show of weakness was the sling that held her left arm tightly to her torso. She had broken her collarbone.

"Taking a blouse off," Egan said last month, her tone expressing the absurdity of it all, "I remember saying to husband John that something is wrong here." She was right. The strange break was the first sign of an aggressive, insidious bone cancer spreading inside her body. Now on leave from SEPTA, Egan visited her doctor on June 29, halfway through her treatment of four, 96-hour chemotherapy sessions. The doctor inserted a needle into her lower spine, taking a bone marrow sample to see how the therapy was working on the cancer. "That kind of hurts," Egan said of the needle.

"It's not the most pleasant experience in the world." The test results hurt worse. The chemotherapy wasn't helping. "That was really a blow," said Egan, 46. It is bad news to be sure. But the people who know Egan know better than to count her out.

As a young woman in the General Assembly, as head of the city's corruption-riddled Department of Licenses and Inspections and now as SEPTA's assistant general manager for public and governmental affairs, Egan has always faced trouble head-on. "If I were God, I'd throw in the towel," her husband joked. Plnff a What Is bone cancer? Malignant tumors inside the bone that can spread to other parts of the body. How common Is it? About 2,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the United States. What are the symptoms? Pain and swelling or tenderness in the affected area, tiredness, fever, weight loss and anemia.

How are bone tumors diagnosed? A review of the patient's family medical history followed by a complete medical exam. A blood test may taken in addition to X-rays and other bone scans. What is the treatment? Surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Which is used depends on the type of cancer, whether it has spread, and the size and location of the primary tumor. For more questions, call the National Cancer Institute at L.J.

I JAY TALBOTTFor the Daily New Egan has always appeared formidable, somehow larger than her 5-foot-7 frame with broad shoulders and lanky limbs. Despite the cancer, after three months at home, she looks the same. Her thinning cap of brown hair with streaks of gray is the only sign of her illness, her previously long hair stripped down by chemotherapy. committeeman recruited her mother to work the ward. "She asked me to help her, as a 16-or 17-year-old, knocking on doors, seeing if people were registered or if they would switch from Democrat to Republican," Egan said.

She graduated from Temple University in 1977 with a degree in political science. Three years later, she had a job in Egan's home in Whitemarsh Township, near Fort Washington, is about 12 miles from the Wissinoming twin where she grew up. But her secluded suburban colonial must seem like a different world. Born on Sept. 1, 1954, she was the sixth of 10 children for Alfred and Patricia Peteraf in Wissinoming, a blue-collar neighborhood of Irish, Polish, German and Italian families.

The girls were outnumbered seven to three in the four-bedroom home. Egan learned early how to handle being the only girl in a room full of rambunctious boys. "They were either beating me up or I was baby-sitting them," Egan said last month, laughing as she sat at the kitchen table covered with newspapers and Italian hoagies. It would be excellent training for the Legislature. And a big family would prove helpful in campaigning.

These were just some of the jokes Egan cracked when she sat down for an afternoon in her kitchen with a reporter, talked about her life and the surprise bout with cancer that has removed her from public life. Egan's first taste of politics came when a neighborhood Republican See EGAN Next Page PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 9 WEDNESDAY, JULY 18. 2001.