"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. ... It's just that I once thought nothing could be worse than losing my job. Then my husband, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer."

Francisco Salazar -- a man who faxed her poetry at work and was forever trying to concoct the best chili and soup recipes -- was diagnosed just before Christmas 2008. He was gone by July.

For Uyttebroeck, a former administrative assistant with a rental car company, eating became mindless and exercise dwindled.

She credits a personal cardiac coach, Peggy Manchester, for helping her drop more than 30 pounds and, just as importantly, find a bit of tranquility in a life that had careened off-course.

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