In 1994, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. My husband and I decided to take a break from my chemotherapy and the cold Minnesota winter. We flew to Scottsdale, Arizona, where there was a professional golf tournament going on—“the Tradition” on the Senior PGA Tour (now the Champions Tour). 


We bought tickets and were standing on the third tee, watching my three idols in golf tee off: Jack Nicklaus, Raymond Floyd, and Tom Weiskopf. Suddenly, a gust of wind came up and blew my hat—and my hair!—right off my head into the middle of the fairway! The gallery went silent, and my golf idols stared at me, as my wig was in their flight path. So I took a deep breath, slipped under the ropes, ran out into the middle of the fairway, and grabbing my hat and my hair, turned to the golfers.


“Gentlemen,” I offered, “the wind is blowing left to right.”


They say the laughter could be heard all the way back to the clubhouse, and I realized that once again, laughter is the best medicine.


—Christine Clifford, CEO, Christine Clifford Enterprises