#ICanGoForward: The Spirit That Inspires

Inaugural Luncheon was Huge Success Raising over $150,000 for Young Non-Profit

 

Houston, Texas – February 28, 2012 – CancerForward: The Foundation for Cancer Survivors (CancerForward) hosted its first annual luncheon, #ICanGoForward: The Spirit That Inspires on Tuesday, February 28, 2012 at the Hilton Americas-Houston.  Arvia and Jason Few, Brenda Love and Ed Jones and Jane and Ed Parker served as chairs of the luncheon that celebrated cancer survivorship, raising over $150,000 for CancerForward, led by a cornerstone gift from Presenting Sponsor Reliant, a NRG Company.   Serving as Honorary Chair of the luncheon, Shara Fryer shared many words of wisdom and encouragement from her own courageous and successful battle against cancer. 

The highlight of the luncheon was a conversation moderated by Lisa Malosky with US Olympic, multi Gold winning gymnast Shannon Miller and HBO Films personality Dee Dee Ricks, both cancer survivors and advocates for women’s health issues.  Heralded as next generation leaders in cancer awareness, Ricks and Miller shared their deeply personal experiences in overcoming their disease and discussed trending practices in cancer survivorship.

Seen in the crowd: CancerForward Founder Beth Sanders Moore and CancerForward Co-Founders Brian Cruver and Bo Bothe, joined by his wife, Heather Bothe. Others seen were: City Council Member Ellen Cohen, Reverend Suzette Caldwell, The Reverend Dr. Russell J. Levenson, Jr., Nancy and Bob Peiser, Sidney and Don Faust, Marcia and David Solomon, Cora Sue and Harry Mach,  Joella and Steve Mach, Pam Jones, Liz Rigney, Susan Bell  Boykin, Cabrina Owsley, Bonnie Baldwin, MD,  Kelli Blanton, Trish and Ty Whitcomb, Elizabeth DeLuca,  MD Anderson’s General Oncology Chief, Dr. Michael Fisch, Texas Children’s Cancer Center Chief,  Dr. David Poplack and Baylor College of Medicine’s Cancer Center Chief, Dr. Kent Osborne, among many others.

All proceeds from the luncheon benefit CancerForward, a free and unique web-based networking and educational resource for cancer survivors of all ages and types of cancer www.Cancerforward.org . 

For more information on CancerForward or for interview opportunities, please contact Lee Honeycutt at 713/840-0988 ext. 04 or LLH@cancerforward.org.

Shannon Miller is the most decorated American gymnast, male or female, in history and the only female athlete to be inducted into the US Olympics Hall of Fame – twice!  At the 1996 Olympic Games, she led the “Magnificent Seven” to the US Women’s first ever Team Gold and for the first time for any American gymnast, she captured gold on the balance beam.

After retiring from Olympic competition, Shannon received an undergraduate degree and a law degree from Boston College. She moved from Olympic athlete to television and radio analyst, commentator and host.  Her company, Shannon Miller Lifestyle: Health and Fitness for Women, has published a series of fitness books and cookbooks as well as fitness DVDs. She travels the country as a highly sought-after motivational speaker and advocate for women’s health and fitness.   In January of 2011, Shannon was diagnosed with a rare malignant germ cell tumor, a form of ovarian cancer.  Now cancer free, Shannon stands as a strong activist for making fitness and diet a priority in cancer rehabilitation and survivorship.  In early 2012, she will launch her own television show on the new Health and Wellness Channel, the only place on television for 24-hour health and wellness programming.

Dee Dee Ricks was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2007, an event that turned the 39-year-old Manhattan hedge fund consultant and philanthropist into a champion for the uninsured and underinsured.  Her initial activism for healthcare provisioning and survivorship planning for the poor is at the center of the HBO documentary, “The Education of Dee Dee Ricks,” which premiered in October, 2011.

A lead financial supporter of The Ralph Lauren Cancer Center in Harlem, Ricks sits on the board of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, where she funded a program to provide cancer prevention to women in rural Arkansas.  She chairs the board of The Harold P. Freeman Patient Navigation Institute, considered the gold standard training facility for patient navigation, a concept pioneered by oncologist Harold P. Freeman, MD in 1990 for the purpose of eliminating barriers to timely cancer screening, diagnosis, treatment, survivorship care and end-of-life-care.  Today, on the threshold of publishing her first book, Ricks travels the globe extending the reach of patient navigation as a strategy to reduce mortality in cancer and other chronic diseases.

CancerForward: The Foundation for Cancer Survivors  www.cancerforward.org  is a free and unique web-based networking and educational resource for cancer survivors of all ages and all types of cancers. By design, CancerForward embraces the now conventional definition of “survivors” thus serving those living with, through and beyond cancer diagnosis, along with family members, friends, and caregivers. The Survivor Network on CancerForward, funded by the Dan L. Duncan Family, is an online platform that provides survivors and caregivers virtual support groups in which to share experiential information about disease-specific issues as well as health, wellness and practical living issues. The Foundation’s nonprofit mission is to connect, educate and share information among cancer survivors, empowering them to move forward with their lives.