Readers who worked at the Star in the 70s-80s-90s know Dave Powell, slot man extraordinaire, features editor and the first newsroom guy to man online ops.

Dave, who has long moved away from newspapers and now works in communicatins for Lumina, yesterday wrote on CarePages that teen-age son Ben has had a recurrence of Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

Here is what Dave said:

"As all of you know, Ben has been fighting Hodgkin's lymphoma for 18 months now. Until recently, we thought that the battle was largely won. He had a successful stem cell transplant in July; in early November, he finished a six-week course of radiation treatments, and he went back to school in mid-November. Unfortunately, over the Christmas holidays, Ben found another lump. A biopsy conducted early this week has confirmed that his Hodgkin's has relapsed again. So the battle continues."

Ben will begin another round of chemotherapy Monday at St. Francis Hospital at the out-patient clinic. Dave says Ben is in good spirits. "None of this seems to overwhelm him."

Ben is a student at Guerin Catholic High School in Noblesville. He is a soccer player and like his dad, mom Sheree and older sister Emily, a devoted animal lover. Some of you may recall that the Powells once had a guinea pig that, in a medical crisis, received a hysterectomy.

Everyone who reads this blog is part of the newspaper family, even if you never wrote a line of copy or toiled for INI. We all are thinking about Dave, Sheree, Emily and Ben, and we wish Ben a successful treatment and continued good spirits during a tough illness.