October 2023 | Volume 14 | Issue 7
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A SHARED JOURNEY OF HOPE
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Mountain Brook’s Paige Parant (21) plays the ball during a match at the 2022 state tournament. Photo by Erin Nelson.
Perfect partners Parant twins aiming for state title in final year together By KYLE PARMLEY
Former Mountain Brook residents author book on their cancer experience By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE
F
ormer Mountain Brook residents Kathryn Tortorici and Nancy Bynon became friends after meeting in 2006, and their lives shared a lot of parallels. They partnered together to work on a cookbook for the Junior League of Birmingham in 2008. They both had sons who played basketball together and their children graduated from Mountain Brook High School between 2006-2011.
And they both were diagnosed with breast cancer within a few weeks of each other in 2019. “I will never forget the day when Nancy told me she tested positive for breast cancer, only for me to tell her the same thing a few weeks later,” Tortorici said. Bynon has lived in Houston for the past 12 years but still has a home in the Birmingham area. Tortorici taught school and attended church in Homewood and after spending several years in Atlanta, she now resides on the border of Vestavia Hills/
Cahaba Heights. Although their paths would separate them from living in the same state, the two remained close friends. “It was difficult,” Tortorici said. “When you hear the word ‘cancer,’ you’re in shock, but having a friend be there with you, you can grasp it. It wasn’t as scary knowing Nancy was learning things and I was learning things and we were helping each other.”
See HOPE | page A26
One question sends Paige and Hannah Parant into a frenzied discussion. “How many balls has Hannah set to Paige over a lifetime?” For context, Paige and Hannah are twins and senior volleyball players at Mountain Brook High School. Paige is an outside hitter, and Hannah is a setter, meaning the two are perfect partners for practices and game action. The answers thrown out by the duo vary in an extreme manner; 75,000 feels too low, but 1 million seems high. The consensus is somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million sets from Hannah to Paige over the years. Their head coach, Mattie Gardner, provides the best answer to the question. “A lot is the answer,” she said. Another question that the two get asked often is, “What’s it like being a twin?” That one also generates some lively discussion. Of course, they squabble like any other siblings or twins.
Nancy Bynon, left, and Kathryn Totorici, right, had been friends for years before they received breast cancer diagnoses within weeks of each other. Photo courtesy of Debra Michelle Photography.
INSIDE
Sponsors............... A4 City......................... A6
Business................ A9 Community.......... A13
Schoolhouse........A18 Events.................. A24
Calendar.............. A24 Sports.................... B6
See PARANT | page A27 Real Estate.......... B12 Opinion................. B14 facebook.com/villageliving
High Notes
Home & Garden
The Brook and The Bluff members on latest album, upcoming tour.
Browse through our annual section for advice and resources on seasonal home improvement projects.
See page A16
See page B1