Thursday, November 5, 2009

Open House Awesomeness



So, we had the festive Open House celebration of the new breast cancer resource center "The Pink Ribbon Place" last week. Over 100 people showed up, toured the facility, chatted, admired the newly decorated office, and applauded and cheered wildly as the pink ribbon was cut. Oh, and speaking of "newly decorated"--Chris donated his furniture (couch, loveseat, coffee table, dining room table and chairs and a few other items) to the center and all he asked was that if I ever kick him out of the house he wants privileges to sleep on the couch at the center. They agreed. He's had the furniture in storage since he moved in 3 years ago. I'm thinking he'll enjoy saving the $80 a month for the storage unit. (And...there's no way I'm kicking him out, so ladies you can stop lining up!)

Anyway, in the first photo that's me holding one end of the ribbon; two people to the right of me is T.C. Bond, another Advisory committee member and then City Councilman Mike Gardner (whose wife is a breast cancer survivor), Rosa Olaiz, the director of The Pink Ribbon Place, and City Councilman Andy Melendrez. Mayor Ron Loveridge had stopped by earlier as well. The next photo is Chris being "pinked." Quite a nice event to launch a much needed resource center.

This Monday night (November 9th) we'll be presenting our first "professionals panel" which will feature 5 physicians who treat breast cancer patients--including the good and great (and also cute) Dr. Amer Karam (yep, trekking all the way in from Los Angeles for us again!) and my radiation oncologist Dr. Janet Hocko as well. We'll also have Dr. Ben Childers (plastic surgeon/ breast reconstruction specialist), Dr. Jean Sprengel (anesthesiologist and author of "Chemo Companion") and Dr. Candace Ruby (oncologist). They will each be talking about their role in the care of a breast cancer patient, what the patient can expect, what's new in treatment, as well as giving helpful tip and answering questions from our audience. The event will be held at the Riverside Police Department Community room.We're expecting around 50 breast cancer patients and family members.  How quickly, efficiently and fantastically the advisory committee was able to put this together has been truly amazing. And it's heartwarming to know these physicians were all willing to donate their time and energy. (If you're local and you want more details, please feel free to email me. We'd love to have you.)



Oh, and speaking of donating time and energy..... This photo is of Mike Easley of Vital Excess designs. He designed The Pink Ribbon Place logo, made the brochures, got 100 t-shirts made, business cards, bookmarks, and giant photo portraits for the walls of the center (he's the one who took my new post-chemo glamor shot!) all in a very, very short time period so it could all be available for the open house. Then he showed up and photographed that too!

Don't you just love it when awesomeness occurs?

6 comments:

  1. That is simply amazing!!!!! Lots of good can only come from this whole thing. Congratulations! Love it!

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  2. Way to go Teresa! This is just great! I wish you all success with the new venture! Haven't been in here in a while so I was excited to see your good prognosis and all the excitement over the new office. Would love to stay in touch. Take care, Christina (Specifically Speaking)

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  3. In eleven months you have had and BEAT cancer AND made such a difference to so many other people who have and who may have the disease. Your starting the Pink Ribbon Place is fantastic. You are amazing! Congratulations to both you and Chris.

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  4. Thanks, Zee. I didn't start the Pink Ribbon Place. The Inland Agency's plans were well underway when I got involved, I just got together an advisory committee that has run with the plans and fundraisers and getting the word out and the doors open. It's an exciting group and I'm glad to be a part of it!

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  5. There seem to be a few photo's missing from this line up!

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  6. I'm not sure what photos you think are missing. I wasn't the one taking the photos, so I have a limited selection. Oh...wait...evil photographer who stole my camera and took awful, awful photos. Right. Those were deleted. Forever.

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