In 1998, Shawna Timmons, then 22, was on a flight home from Georgia where she had attended her grandfather's funeral. In the seat next to her, she chatted with National Guard training officer Jay Baldwin, on his way home to Kodiak, Alaska from Fort Benning.

Somewhere over Utah, a romance blossomed.

"A conversation began, and we're still talking," Shawna Baldwin, a 1994 Decatur High School graduate, told the Federal Way News last week.

Shawna resumed her life as an office manager for a behavioral optometrist in Seattle and attending Highline Community College, but after a brief courtship, she decided to move to Kodiak to be with Jay and his two daughters, Melinda and Kaylynn, from his first marriage. Jay proposed to Shawna on the flight up to Anchorage.

"He sat next to me again, just as we were on that first flight, and he held up a scroll and it dropped down, on it was written 'Will you marry me?" Baldwin remembered.

Baldwin knew her new life in Alaska would be a challenge. Jay's daughter, Melinda, was born with cerebral palsy and multiple other disabilities. Baldwin was in Alaska less than two months when Melinda's brain shunt malfunctioned, and with Jay away at annual training, she rushed Melinda to Anchorage, where Melinda underwent four surgeries before being transferred to Seattle's Children's Hospital.

"That time, we returned home after three months and a total of eight surgeries," said Baldwin.

Over the next few years, the Baldwin's settled into their new life together and had a baby girl, Grace. In March, 2004, with Jay away again at his yearly training, Baldwin learned she was pregnant, this time with a boy, the second child together with Jay and the fourth in the Baldwin family.

A month and a week before Jayson Baldwin was born, Jay was deployed to Iraq. He has been in Baghdad since then.

Before being sent overseas, he and Shawna had been hunting for a special-needs school for Melinda, as the public school in Kodiak was not equipped to deal with special-needs children. The Baldwin's found one in Camphill, in rural Chester County Pennsylvania. Camphill is a residential community devoted to the care and education of developmentally delayed children, a place that Melinda fell in love with when Shawna took her there in February of this year.

Melinda started attending Camphill on September 6, 2005.

"It's a wonderful place. Melinda is not different there, she fits in and she didn't want to leave after that first visit. We knew it was the right place for her," said Baldwin. "We got a partial scholarship because of our circumstances but we still have to raise about $26,000 per year for her tuition. When Jay was home and we were looking for the right school, our goal was to find the best place, and we didn't worry about how to pay for it," said Baldwin.

Meanwhile, Shawna was experiencing problems with her skin after her daughter was born, so in March, 2005 she made an appointment with a specialist in Seattle, to coincide with the often-made trip for Melinda's medical needs. She had large, extremely dry patches on her facial skin.

"I had seen some doctors in Alaska, and nobody could make a diagnosis," said Baldwin. "With a four month old, little did I know that what I thought was an appointment with a dermatologist would turn into the announcement that I had cancer."

Baldwin was diagnosed with CTCL (cutaneous T-cell lymphoma)-mycosis fungoides. CTCL is a general term for many lymphomas and mycosis fungoides is the specific type. CTCL is a rare type of cancer of the T-lymphocytes, making up about 5% of all cases. It is caused by the uncontrolled growth of a type of white blood cell within the skin, called a T-cell. It most often occurs in people aged between 40 and 60.

Baldwin was 29 at the time of diagnosis.

She says the most difficult part of learning of her illness was telling her husband in Iraq.

"That's where the hardest part of Jay's deployment came in; I had to tell him. I had planned to tell Jay after I had gone through treatment and I was told I was in remission but I couldn't get away with it. My family wouldn't leave me alone about telling him until I gave in," said Baldwin in a letter to family and friends dated October 29, 2005. "This was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. How could I tell him when there is not one thing he can do and his life depends on him focusing on his job?

Jay was able to come home last Christmas and meet his newborn son. He also was able to come home for two weeks the end of April during Shawna's second and third week of radiation treatment.

The rest of the time, Shawna is struggling to keep things together and stay positive.

"I'm going to beat it, I'm not worried, and the doctor's are very positive, which is what I need," stressed Baldwin.

Baldwin returned to Kodiak on December 20th, eager to spend this Christmas at home with Kaylynn, Melinda, Grace and Jayson.

For now, Jay will have to be with them via web cam, cell phone and text messages.

"I planned Jayson's one year birthday around Jay's schedule so he could join us via web cam. I sent him his very own decorations and party supplies. How cool is that?" asked Baldwin.

"Now I'm just counting down the days until Jay comes home, supposedly either January or February," said Baldwin. "You can never be sure, we're on a need to know basis."

Baldwin sighed. "I really need to know."

Contributions to help with Melinda's tuition at the Camphill School can be sent to Portland Teachers Credit Union, Melinda Baldwin Tuition Fund, P.O. Box 3750, Portland, OR 97208. Camphill's Special School's website is www.BeaverRun.org