Actor Patrick Dempsey and his sister Mary Dempsey founded the Dempsey Center after their mother was treated for cancer at CMMC.  The mission of the Dempsey Center is to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, and communities impacted by cancer through support, education, integrative medicine, outreach and prevention. The center staff strives to embrace the whole person using a collaborative and holistic approach.  They also outreach into the Auburn/Lewiston community with messages of prevention and risk reduction, often targeting underserved populations.

Prevent Cancer Foundation and Breakaway from Cancer had the opportunity to contribute to the excellent work that the Dempsey Center is doing by providing additional information to attendees about prevention, financial assistance, supportive care and survivorship.  We talked to many of the more than 4,300 participants about the campaign and the resources that our organization provides in advocacy, research, community outreach and education.

Breakaway from Cancer also honored the work of an outstanding survivor and advocate in the community, Kristin Short.  Kristin is a singer/songwriter, mother of three, and two-year breast cancer survivor from Norway, Maine.  She has made a significant impact on the community with her passion for music through performances at several benefit concerts for the Dempsey Center. She also provides a comforting presence to those going through cancer treatment, traveling from Norway to Lewiston offering encouragement to those who have little support.

As always, the community welcomed Breakaway from Cancer and Prevent Cancer Foundation with enthusiasm and interest, sharing with us their own stories of prevention, survivorship, heroism and loss.  Thank you, as always, to the community for welcoming us and supporting the work of our organizations, and to the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing for another successful event to raise funding and bring the community together to educate, empower, and celebrate the lives and passion of so many!

While the campaign and our partners are always available, year around, to provide resources to men and women across the country in cancer prevention through survivorship, we wrapped up our last event of the season in Austin, TX at the LiveStrong Ride. The LiveStrong Ride was the last of four LiveStrong Challenges that we participated in, in addition to the Dempsey Challenge in Lewiston, ME.  Prevent Cancer met hundreds of individuals and gave out hundreds of brochures with information about risk reduction, screening and prevention.

Looking back on the year, Breakaway from Cancer hosted two charity cycling rides to raise money for programs, services and research within our partner organizations. Thousands of men, women and children came out to participate. We then had the pleasure of travelling from Sacramento, CA to Thousand Oaks, CA with the Amgen Tour of California (ATOC,) meeting passionate cancer survivors or individuals with stories of early detection along the way. In four of the ATOC host cities we honored cancer survivors with our Breakaway Champion award – the words courageous and inspirational only begin to describe these men and women.

Just two weeks later, Breakaway from Cancer hosted our first policy roundtable discussion called “Striking the Balance.” This panel of experts identified unmet needs of focus within health policy and how to address them. The podcast can be accessed at the Prevent Cancer website or at the Breakaway from Cancer. 

Also over the summer we brought Breakaway from Cancer to Capitol Hill. We were joined by Members of Congress and staff at this event which highlighted campaign resources for Members and staff directing their constituents in need of information and assistance to the campaign and its partners.

Prevent Cancer and our partners the Cancer Support Community, the Patient Advocate Foundation, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and sponsor, Amgen, are looking forward to 2011. Stay tuned for updates on an expanded website, more in our Striking the Balance Stories, and many opportunities to become involved!

The discussion, appropriately titled Striking the Balance: Community Experts Come Together for High-Level Dialogue on Cancer Care, covered issues of concern across the spectrum beginning with prevention and carrying through access to quality care and survivorship.  Our moderator, Susan Dentzer, led our expert panel through a lively discussion which identified unmet needs, opportunities to improve prevention and comprehensive care, and moved towards some recommendations to address these needs and opportunities through policy change and leadership.

The conversation helped elevate opportunities in prevention, and represents just the beginning of a collaboration of  5 partners playing different roles in the delivery of cancer care.  I am certain that this collaboration and shared interest in improving the quality of prevention and care, will ultimately lead to positive changes in policy.  A full video of the panel discussion will be available on this blog, soon. So, watch this space!

The last three days of the tour were spent in amazing cities.  Big Bear Lake, Los Angeles, and Thousand Oaks.  I rode in a caravan with the riders from Palmdale to Big Bear Lake.  The course was breathtaking: it was all mountains, and the cyclists put all they had into that ride.  It is fitting that the most courageous rider jersey was awarded that day to George Hincapie, our Breakaway from Cancer spokesperson.

In Los Angeles, the Staples Center towered over the time trial course.  And while Katie followed the riders on the course, several hundred men and women stopped by our booth for information on cancer prevention.  It was good to see so many people with an interest in learning more and also heartening to see such a high level of awareness and practice about the importance of using sunscreen and lip protection with SPF!

The final city was Thousand Oaks, our final Breakaway Mile city.  The largest crowd to date joined us at a Breakaway from Cancer breakfast and many of them shared their stories of early detection and survivorship with me.  It was there that we met the Thousand Oaks Cancer Champion Steve Bartolucci and his family.  What a leader he is in support of cancer awareness!  And the most thrilling moment of the day was when actor Patrick Dempsey joined us and hundreds of cancer survivors to march across the finish line in our Breakaway from Cancer mile.  The smiles on the faces of those marching alongside him were wide!

It was a privilege for Katie and me to work and travel with such a dedicated team of Breakaway from Cancer partners.  We thank our partners, Amgen, the Cancer Support Community, the Patient Advocate Foundation, and the national Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, as well as the thousands of men and women who came out to raise awareness with us.  It takes a team to fight cancer, and what a great team with have in Breakaway from Cancer!

An image from Bakersfield (Photo by Lisa Hughes)

May 23, 2010 - Amgen Breakaway from Cancer Champion Steve Bertolucci and actor and cancer awareness activist Patrick Dempsey share center point behind the Breakway from Cancer banner as they walk the Breakaway Mile in Bakersfield, CA.