6/19/08

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -True to her name, Patience Knight showed poise when things were good - and bad.

Two years ago, the Texas Tech thrower's life was going smoothly. She was a 19-year-old freshman who earned straight As and had qualified for a national meet.

Maybe she wouldn't have predicted cancer scares for herself and her dad, or that her treatment would be complicated when a piece of tubing infiltrated her heart, but the aspiring Olympian found herself bracing for bad news before it came.

"When life gets real good and things are going too smoothly, you're like, 'Something's about to happen,"' Knight said recently. "I don't know how to explain it to you. It was weird."

In June 2006 sharp pains began to shoot across her chest and back on her right side. The discomfort was most severe when she inhaled, but only when she was lying down to sleep.

Some nights she could only doze, sitting up in front of a TV to avoid the pain.