Somewhere in the heavens Eva Davis smiled upon the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night.

Eva passed away last Sunday, losing a battle to breast cancer, which she bravely fought for the past two years.

She was only 51.

She was first diagnosed 14 years ago with the disease but she beat it to live a healthy and active life. Once it reared its ugly head again, Eva did everything she could, enduring surgery and chemotherapy to fight for her life.

Eva leaves behind her husband, Darrell, who reported on the Roughriders and the Canadian Football League for the Regina Leader-Post for the past 21 years, sons Austin, 18, and Tanner, 14, and a chocolate lab named Hershey with whom she regularly ran while she had her health.

Eva’s funeral took place Friday afternoon, a few hours before the Roughriders played host to the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium.

Eva had three Roughriders season tickets and regularly attended the games with her boys. It was more than just a family thing; similar to many people in Regina and the entire province they rooted for the Roughriders, in good times and bad.

Darrell and the boys attended last night's game, honouring their mother. The Roughriders won 37-34, snapping a three-game losing streak and qualifying for the playoffs.

The Roughriders fought to the very end. Maybe, just maybe, they had Eva’s spirit guiding them.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and on Sunday in various cities across Ontario there will be charity walkathons and runs called Run for the Cure to mark National Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

At Ivor Wynne Stadium on Saturday where the Hamilton Tiger-Cats scored a 44-38 upset win over the Montreal Alouettes, many people wore pink pins, commemorating Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The pins are available for $2.

Countless women have been stricken with breast cancer. Some such as Kathy Levy, whose husband David is the Tiger-Cats' doctor, are survivors. She has had two separate battles with breast cancer, the first 12 years ago and then another a year later. Kathy is involved in dragon boat racing and captains a team called Knot A Breast, comprised of women who have battled breast cancer. They even have a website: www.knotabreast.net.

Theirs is a success story.

Sadly, others such as Eva have had their lives taken away too soon by the uncompromising disease, despite waging a valiant war.

Their courage and bravery is to be lauded and applauded.

It is worth buying a pin to show we care.