A voice goes silent...Kristin Hoke succumbs to cancer.

When any one of our voices' is kept silent, for any reason, we are diminished.  Awfully more so when the voice of a community is hushed after such care full and considerate choices on what to say and when.   A voice goes silent.

Kristin Hoke, the WPBF-TV 25 anchorwoman whose valiant 5 1/2-year battle with congenital breast cancer inspired viewers and fellow cancer warriors, died early this morning at her Jupiter home. She was 42.
Hoke, whose personal stories earned her four regional Emmy awards, waged a public fight against her disease, even as it aggressively metastasized. Her video journal entries, which recount her operations, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and her 10-trip commute to Boston for clinical trial sessions at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, stand as a testimony to Hoke's perseverance in her struggle to survive.
"Kristin's will to live inspired family, friends and strangers alike," her family said in a statement to WPBF. "Sharing her journey and knowing it helped others fueled her determination."
But along with her private pain, Hoke also shared with viewers her greatest joy: the birth of her "miracle baby," Isabella "Bella" Margaret Cecere, now 3 years old.  - Liz Balmaseda

KRISTIN, IN HER OWN WORDS:
As told to The Post
"The good and the bad in life are side by side, and what you choose to notice will dictate how your life will be. That's whether you're sick or not." (March 2008)
"I sometimes think, 'How did I get through those first six months?' I was going through treatment and raising Bella and up all night with her. It was a crazy time. Someday, I'll tell her all about it, when, hopefully, it's all just a distant memory." (March 2008)
"I try to focus on the people giving me the treatment -- they're the most wonderful people in the world. We sit there and joke and laugh. I truly believe that your immune system knows what you think, and it wires itself accordingly. So I think it's really important to be positive. If you dread every part of it, it's only going to make it worse. It doesn't help. I mean, yes, there are days that I'm tired or discouraged, but you just have to keep going." (March 2008)
"My message is not to be in denial or push feelings under. Face what you're facing, but stay positive. Look, I don't want people to read this article and say, 'Oh, she has no problem with anything.' No -- it's tough. It's definitely tough." (March 2008)
"I realize now that having Bella was all for a reason. She has given me the focus to keep fighting. She makes us laugh every day," Hoke told The Post in February 2009. "I don't know how it's possible to have so much joy, but it is." (Feb. 2009)