Susan Butcher had faith her girls will be ‘amazing women’

By Dermot Cole


Fairbanks Daily News Miner
Published August 7, 2006

R.I.P.: In an interview broadcast on Good Morning America just before Mother’s Day, Susan Butcher talked about a gift she hoped she would not have to leave for her children.

Susan, the woman who thought she was born in the wrong century until she became a champion dog musher, was typically straightforward. Whether she was speaking one-on-one or to a national TV audience, she was just the same.

“I’m journaling for the kids, writing things for them in case I’m not here, so they have my words to know who I am and what they mean to me,” she told the ABC crew. “I hope they never get to read them.”

Butcher said she never paid attention to the odds and she planned on getting cured. But she was also realistic and she knew the challenge she faced in leukemia.

“They’re both strong girls and it’s going to be a terrible time for them if I die, but they’re going to be great people,” she added. Then she paused and smiled in appreciation, as if thinking of her daughters years from now, and predicted they would be “amazing women.”

In that same report, Chisana, 6, sat with her dad, David Monson, and said she liked it that her mom had a bald head.

“I’ve always wanted to shave my head, so I love the hairlessness,” Susan said.

Her older daughter, Tekla, 11, said this of her mom: “She was always there to comfort me if I have a bad dream or if I start crying. She always gives me hugs at the right time.”

As in those interviews, Susan and David candidly shared their experiences with postings they made on the Web site www.thestatus.com, which have been read by people around the world.

Early Sunday morning David wrote that “Susan left us at 3:25 p.m. Aug. 5, 2005. It was peaceful. The rest after her greatest race.”

“Tonight the girls and I took a ferry to Bainbridge Island. It was a peaceful passage from the turmoil of the city to a quiet spot she loved.”

“Tekla wore her mother’s necklace and Chisana wore her rings. We sat silently near the shore and looked up. The sky was an explosion of stars. I asked Chisana which one she thought was her mom. She sat on my lap and studied the sky for a long time. Finally she pointed and said, ‘I think that one. But don’t worry she is not alone.’”

“Neither are we. She will be guiding us from that star,” David said.