Arline V. Allison was a lady that any of you would've wanted to know. Standing only 5' 1," her smile would light up a room and she had a personality that attracted and kept many lifelong friends. At least 500 people referred to her as "Ma." Her legacy lives on today in her two upstanding sons; Steve, who works for the St. Paul Sheriff's Dept. in Community Relations, and me, a former baseball player who now works with ESPN and the San Diego Padres. She also has a Legacy Award in her name with the annual Winfield Student Athlete Scholarship Award in St. Paul , for an outstanding mother of a winning student/athlete.

My parents divorced when I was three, and she (along with our close extended family) raised us well and molded our character through her example of getting an education, honesty, hard work and giving back. She'd tell us whenever we talked, which was all the time, "Give it a 100%" and always, "I love you."

During the 1987 baseball season, I was with the Yankees and we just finished a series against my hometown Minnesota Twins. As I was boarding the team bus, she told Steve and me that she'd done a self-breast exam and found something that concerned her. She was going to the doctor the next day. As I watched her face as the bus pulled away, I could see she was anxious about the possible outcome. Her worst fears were confirmed when her doctor discovered she had breast cancer.

All of our lives changed forever on that day. To fight this insidious disease, we took her to the best doctors in both New York and Minnesota -- but unfortunately it was already too late. She'd undergone a double mastectomy and radiation treatments, which only made her weak.

She was well enough to be at my wedding in New Orleans, in February 1988, and made it to one more All-Star Game in Cincinnati, in July that same year. She was frail near the end of the baseball season, so I took off the last week or two to be with her. She was alert enough to know it was my birthday on October 3, and we even celebrated a little bit, but later that night she passed. She was only 65.

This was over 20 years ago. Today, with advancements in research, communication, medicine and treatment modalities, this should not be the outcome for thousands of others.

I know if she could talk to others today, she would insist that both women and men get breast exams and she would be an advocate to help others avoid what most of the time is preventable. Since she cannot, I will do that for her.

So, I urge you to please do what you have to do to prevent this disease from affecting you and your family. Know that these words are heartfelt, and I hope that my personal experience will encourage you to be vigilant regarding your health.

Please visit www.susan.g.komen.org or ASK.comfor more information.