The cooler weather outside created the perfect atmosphere to cozy up amongst friends, enjoy some hot soup and coffee, and Celebrate Life!
The 9th Annual Celebrating Life Breast Cancer Awareness Event was a huge success with over 165 women and men in attendance. We came together to celebrate and support the women of the Watertown Breast Cancer Support Group (BCSG) which for over 19 years has either financially or emotionally assisted over 160 women and gifted over $130,000. Due to a silent auction, the Prairie Lakes Healthcare Foundation selling Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets, and donation envelopes, the evening raised over $1,500 for the BCSG and the Christy Kinney Pay it Forward Fund.
We heard from Colita Remmers, founding member of the BCSG, together with Susie Faehn whom both served on the event's planning committee along with Carla Roby. All three of these remarkable women are breast cancer survivors. We heard an emotional testimonial from a local breast cancer warrior, Kelly Lindner, still going through her journey. Over the course of the event, we were moved to tears by countless stories of strength, resilience, and hope that these courageous women have faced. Some in attendance may have just learned of their cancer diagnosis in the past 30 days. Others may have been celebrating over 20 years since battling this disease. Either way, we learned to celebrate the life you're blessed to live each and every day.
Our keynote speaker, Susan Sparks, shared her own cancer story with humor, grace, and wisdom. She shared a poignant story of making it through a terrible storm on the back of her husband's Harley Davidson motorcycle. They realized they needed to find shelter, rest & regroup, and then head back out to face the storm of they'd never reach their destination. Susan related those lessons to any of life's storms one may be facing.
We would like to extend a big thank you to our volunteers from the Prairie Lakes Cancer Center and Prairie Lakes Healthcare Foundation who committed their personal time to welcome our guests and provide helpful information. Thank you to Dr. Schaeffer and Dr. Gerrish from General Surgery, Dr. Amin and Dr. Rao from the Cancer Center and Dr. Schaunaman from Brown Clinic for spending time with the women of the BCSG.
We would also like to thank everybody that came to the event. We hope you had as much fun as we did planning it!
Providing events like Celebrating Life 2023 help to establish PLHS as the keystone in the Watertown Community and surrounding areas as we connect, educate, and inspire our friends, family, and neighbors. We're already looking forward to Celebrating Life 2024!
