Legendary actor and best-selling author Rob Lowe will be the featured speaker at the 13th annual Baylor Health Care System Foundation Celebrating Women luncheon on Thursday, Oct. 11, at 11:45 a.m. at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas. The announcement was first shared with an excited group of Celebrating Women committee members at the Kick-Off Coffee, held at the home of Pam and Vin Perella.
The event, presented for the eighth consecutive year by Tom Thumb, has raised more than $18 million to fight breast cancer throughout Baylor Health Care System. In the past 12 years, donations to Celebrating Women have supported expanded technology, community outreach, innovative clinical research, education and programmatic needs for the men and women fighting this disease.
“Baylor has been fighting breast cancer for more than 50 years,” says Rowland K. Robinson, president of Baylor Health Care System Foundation. “While a cure remains elusive, the battle never ends. Thanks to supporters of Celebrating Women, we are bringing hope to breast cancer patients and their families that we will reach the day when breast cancer is no longer a formidable disease, but a distant memory.”
Pam Busbee and Pam Perella will chair the event this year, and Caren Prothro has been named honorary chairman. Claire Emanuelson and Peggy Meyer are this year’s underwriting chairmen and Robyn Conlon and Jennifer Sampson will serve as the luncheon’s corporate underwriting chairmen.
Mary Anne Cree and the Men and Women of Sammons Enterprises will be honored with the Circle of Care Award. This award is given to those who have served as advocates, volunteers, educators or donors and have made a difference in the campaign against breast cancer.
Lowe, a prolific television and film actor and author of The New York Times best-selling memoir, “Stories I Only Tell My Friends,” has enjoyed starring roles on “The West Wing” for which he received an Emmy nomination and a Screen Actors Guild Award, “Brothers & Sisters,” and “Parks & Recreation.” His feature film debut came with Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Outsiders” and he later went on to star in such popular dramas as “St. Elmo’s Fire” and “About Last Night.”
Off screen, Lowe is a dedicated activist in the fight against breast cancer. With a long family history – his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all lost their battle with the disease – Lowe works with organizations such as the Cancer Hope Network to raise awareness and emphasize the importance of continued support for cancer survivors.
Lowe was also the first male spokesperson for Lee National Denim Day, which raises awareness of breast cancer and encourages early detection. During his time as spokesperson, his mother was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer and tragically died nine months later. She had never had a mammogram.
“Multiple generations of women in my family have been struck by this disease. My grandmother and great-grandmother died of breast cancer. During the time I was the national spokesperson for breast cancer awareness, my mother died from this disease,” said Lowe. “That shouldn’t happen.”
For information about underwriting opportunities and tickets to Celebrating Women, call 214-820-4500 or email CelebratingWomen@BaylorHealth.edu. Sponsorship and underwriting opportunities are still available; individual tickets starts at $250 and table prices start at $2500.
ABOUT BAYLOR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM FOUNDATION
Baylor Health Care System Foundation, a separately incorporated not-for-profit organization, raises and manages charitable funds to support Baylor Health Care System’s mission of providing exemplary health care, education, research and community service. Since the foundation was established in 1978, it has distributed more than $400 million to Baylor Health Care System. Support comes from more than 10,000 active donors, including individuals, corporations and other private foundations. For more information about Baylor Health Care System Foundation, visit our website: baylorhealth.com/give.
About Baylor Scott & White Health
As the largest not-for-profit health system in the state of Texas, Baylor Scott & White promotes the health and well-being of every individual, family and community it serves. It is committed to making quality care more accessible, convenient and affordable through its integrated delivery network, which includes the Baylor Scott & White Health Plan, Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, the Baylor Scott & White Quality Alliance and its leading digital health platform — MyBSWHealth. Through 52 hospitals and more than 1,300 access points, including flagship academic medical centers in Dallas, Fort Worth and Temple, the system offers the full continuum of care, from primary to award-winning specialty care. Founded as a Christian ministry of healing more than a century ago, Baylor Scott & White today serves more than three million Texans. For more information, visit: BSWHealth.com
