HONOLULU -- For 20 years, she was the face of Creative Holidays. The "Away we go" gal, Didi Ah Yo, 54, succumbed to leukemia after a three-year battle with the disease.

Seven years ago, Didi and Paul Ah Yo celebrated Didi's birthday and the New Year. At the time, there was a lot to celebrate. Creative Holidays was one of the most successful travel agencies on Oahu, with Didi's dimpled smile and Minnie Mouse voice up front, and Paul behind the scenes.

Didi Ah Yo was a common sight on local television for her Creative Holidays commercials, which included her signature line: "I'm Didi Ah Yo and away we go."

In 2000, health problems could not be ignored. Blood tests confirmed mylodysplasia, the form of leukemia that also struck Chris Pablo, Alana Dung and Alvin Nishimura.

"It was shock. What is this leukemia? You don't realize unless you know someone who's had this," Didi Ah Yo said in an interview in 2001.

Didi's sister, Lisa, provided bone marrow for a transplant, but it was not enough.

Medical bills of more than $1 million were only partly covered by insurance. The community showed its aloha at fund-raisers across the island, organized by husband Paul.

"She asked me, 'Are you going to be here with me?' And here I was thinking about the business. I said, 'Of course. Listen, we're going to do this together,'" Paul Ah Yo said in 2001.

However, it was not to be. Last October, Paul Ah Yo suffered a fatal heart attack. Under hospice care in their Makiki Heights home, Didi was philosophical, even joking that Paul had gone before to coordinate her final travel arrangements.

"You never know. Expect the unexpected. (It) forces you to slow down, smell the roses, take everything day by day," Didi Ah Yo said.