New meaning to recession survival

The downturn has certainly pounded any Gulf Coast company connected to construction, but David McCulla, founder of Lakewood Ranch-based International Construction Consultants, has taken recession survival to new heights.

In short, McCulla's teenage son, Greg, and his wife of 30 years, Margaret, both were treated for cancer just as the recession began to metastasize. Greg was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma over Memorial Day weekend in 2008. Margaret McCulla was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer a year later.

More heartache: Greg McCulla's cancer came back in summer 2010. Then, while the teenager underwent a complicated and painful stem cell treatment, David McCulla learned his sister, also named Margaret, was dying. McCulla's sister, like his wife, had breast cancer.