About Lisa’s Legacy
The character of Lisa appeared in one of the first stories in Funky Winkerbean that brought some modern relevance into the strip with the teen pregnancy story arc. In 1999, Lisa discovered she had breast cancer which presented an opportunity to use humor to deal with a very serious subject. This story turned into a long involved arc that unfolded over several years. Lisa and her husband Les faced the same physical, psychological, and social issues as anyone else dealing with the disease. When Lisa died in the strip, there was an outpouring of grief from the readers unlike anything I’d experienced to date, and her obituary was run on the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Her story was collected by the Kent State University Press in a book entitled Lisa’s Story: The Other Shoe. Again, in response to her demise in the strip, University Hospitals in Cleveland established The Lisa’s Legacy Fund for Cancer Research and Education. So Lisa’s legacy is that she’s helping to battle against cancer in the real world.
In 2008, the Lisa story arc was a Pulitzer Finalist.
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Lisa’s Story go towards cancer research and education. Visit Lisa’s Legacy Fund to learn more or to make a direct donation.
