Loyal viewers saw it coming a mile away.

Just weeks ago, in one of the "The L Word’s"artful flashblacks tracing its characters’ sexual interconnectedness, fans witnessed the breakup of best-friends-turned-lovers Dana Fairbanks and Alice Pieszecki. When Alice, played by Leisha Hailey, proclaimed that she couldn’t live without her, tennis pro Dana, played by Erin Daniels, reassured her that, of course she could.

Then Alice was warned by the vampire lesbian she began dating on the rebound that she hadn’t properly disposed of Dana’s life-sized cardboard cutout, inviting potential bad Mojo from the netherworld.

Finally, when the cardboard cutout was not only hauled away to the trash, but also buried by refuse — so symbolic of the Sapphic phenomenon of recycling girlfriends — we knew it was all over but the wailing.

In the most recent episode of the Showtime hit saga of lesbian life in L.A., Dana lost her battle with breast cancer.

More attention than ever is being paid by the entertainment industry to women and breast cancer. Perhaps most visible is venerable lesbian rocker Melissa Etheridge. While on tour in 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent months of intensive chemotherapy, but returned stronger than anyone could have anticipated.

Etheridge recently proved that her recovery is the real deal, surprising fans with a high-energy set at the Houston Rodeo on March 2. She was surrounded by a sea of pink, the color her audience wore in solidarity with her cancer fight.

But even more surprising was the fact that Etheridge was performing at the Houston Rodeo at all. The multiple Grammy-winning Sheryl Crow was originally scheduled to perform that evening, but cancelled when she, too, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Crow’s website states that she is recovering from a "minimally invasive" surgery performed in Los Angeles a week before she was scheduled to play Houston. She will undergo radiation treatment as a precaution.

Standing in for her fellow musician, Etheridge drove home the point that Crow, 44, would recover, emphasizing the importance of early detection.

Happy ending in Houston

Among those wearing pink at the concert were Laura Overton and Donise Whited, who have lived together as a couple for more than 15 years.

One year earlier, almost to the day of Etheridge’s rodeo appearance, Overton began chemotherapy treatments. A small but suspicious lump had prompted Overton, 50, to follow a faithful regimen of annual mammograms for 13 years. It had never proved problematic until late 2004, when doctors diagnosed her with Stage 1 invasive ductile carcinoma.

Three weeks later, Overton’s tumor removed was removed successfully, along with three lymph nodes.

Following a relatively new radiation-delivery procedure called a mammosite that she endured twice a day for five days, Overton felt no immediate side effects from the treatment, other than the sensation of a mild sunburn.

Six weeks later, doctors inserted a "port-o-cath" into Overton’s chest, a portal that would deliver a chemotherapy cocktail. She received eight treatments, one every other week, for nearly three months.

By the second round of chemo, her hair began to fall out. Overton immediately opted to shave her head.

"That was neat when Dana got her head shaved," Overton says of a familiar scene on "The L Word." "I could really identify with that."

But by the fourth round of chemo, it was difficult for Overton to get out of bed.

Following chemotherapy Overton developed an infection that was eliminated by antibiotics within a week. A similar infection proved fatal for the fictional Dana Fairbanks.

A year later, Overton is fully recovered and has returned to work at Lowe’s hardware store in the landscaping department. Her hair has grown back, and her breasts are well.

"Now I have one 20-year-old and one 50-year old," Overton jokes, referring to her somewhat mismatched but now-healthy breasts.

"That’s fine — they average out to two 35-year-olds!" Whited adds.

Survival skills

Producers correctly anticipated the loss of Fairbanks’ character would hit "The L Word"’s adoring audience hard. In denouement, they prepared a special post-show conversation with the actors and crew.

In it, the series’ director and writer Rose Troche shared statistics indicating that breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women. One in nine women get breast cancer, and 40,000 women will die of the disease this year in the United States.

Both Overton and Whited applaud "The L Word" for its realistic portrayal of a woman’s experience with breast cancer, though they disagree vehemently with Dana’s eventual fate.

"It was great how they showed the mammogram, and the fear that you go through in each step," Whited says. "But I wish they would have let Dana live. I think it would have sent a much more positive message that there is hope. Now women might think, ‘Oh, I have breast cancer — I’m going to die!’ And that’s just not true."

Overton, who is also an amateur tennis player, agrees.

"She won tournaments! She was in great shape!" she says. "They should have had her sink to the bottom, maybe, but then come back."

Attitude counts for as much, if not more than, being in shape, the couple believes.

"They portrayed Dana with a seriously bad attitude: ‘I’m dying! I have no breast!’" Whited says.

"Laura never had that attitude. She never complained about her situation, and maintained a positive attitude throughout the whole thing."

The same positive attitude of her friends and family helped her, Overton says.

"I wasn’t going to get down, and my friends didn’t let me," she says.

"‘The L Word’ should have looked at Melissa Etheridge, Sheryl Crow, and people like myself. We’re survivors."

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