Premier hula dancer Kanoe Miller, 59, underwent major surgery April 24 to remove a third lung she did not know she had. She will return to the Halekulani’s House Without a Key on Oct. 4, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. She will dance only Friday and Saturday for a while. What’s more, she will return with the outstanding Hiram Olsen Trio, with Hiram on guitar, son Casey on steel guitar and Dennis "Bla" Keohokalole on bass. The trio last played at the Halekulani in 2001 …
Learning of the third lung, which doctors said she was born with, was a "complete surprise," Kanoe said this week. It had not shown up on X-rays. "I got sick a lot in 2012 into 2013 and had pneumonia four times," said the 1973 Miss Hawaii. "I found pulmonologist Phillip Foti and the third lung was discovered. It had died, atrophied and caused the lower left lung to be compromised. It was right behind my heart and had to be cut out." The bottom of her left lung also had to be removed. Cardiothoracic surgeon Henry Louie told her to report to the hospital the following week for surgery.
It was a shock for Kanoe. She had a week to get her affairs in order. She told her family, close friends and the Halekulani what was going on. "I want to give great thanks to (liver cancer survivor) Jimmy Borges," Kanoe said. "Actress Julia Nixon called and asked if she could tell Jimmy about me because he believes in power of prayer and positive thought. I said OK. The next morning I had four hours of surgery. I totally credit Jimmy for extending his army of well-wishers and positive people. He understands when you just don’t know which way your life is going to go."
Jimmy had put word of her upcoming surgery on his Facebook page hours before the operation. During the surgery, her husband, John Miller, received many calls. John then put it on Kanoe’s Facebook fan page immediately, and she had almost 16,000 hits during the day. John read her the approximately 800 comments and blessings each morning for the four days she was in the hospital. Kanoe has been the hotel’s hula headliner for 36 years. …
THE SEPT. 10 death of former Star-Bulletin Sports Editor Jim "Hack" Hackleman, 86, in Grover Beach, Calif., brings back many memories. We hoisted cold ones together at Tosh Kaneshiro‘s Columbia Inn and shared a few adventures together. On a weekend afternoon in the 1970s, a fun touch football game against four or five young media whippersnappers was set up at Kapiolani Park. Their team included Dave Shapiro and Richard Borreca, two of today’s top Star-Advertiser columnists, and Buck Donham and Webster Nolan. Web was not a young whippersnapper. Our team included Hack, a tough, smart guy who played football for the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team; Dick Couch, a standout sportswriter and fine all-around athlete; your "Wood Craft" columnist, a would-be quarterback who played a little football at old Honolulu Stadium; and, believe it or not, former Star-Bulletin Features Editor Barbara Morgan. We older players kicked the okoles of the whippersnappers, even with a girl on our team. The next day we learned Hack had suffered a concussion in the fun game. He kept playing and never mentioned it …
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Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
