Go Pink

This is what it looks like when a community goes pink.

A mom remembered.

Survivors honored. 

Medical advances shared. 

Hips rocked. 

Dancing with the Stars Derek Hough moves across the stage with the Go Pink Luncheon Raffle Winner!

Boca Raton came alive this year at the 18th annual Go Pink Luncheon benefiting the Go Pink Challenge and the fight against breast cancer at Boca Raton Regional Hospital.

Derek Hough served as the keynote speaker and he certainly did not disappoint. 

He shook those hips. He cha chaed and winked and worked the crowd of 1400 (mostly) females at The Boca Raton. An event that usually draws tears and hugs, brought roars and shouts and auction paddles tossed high in the air to earn a chance to dance with the Dancing with the Stars Celebrity Judge and Professional Dancer. One lucky raffle winner and two fortunate auction winners took to the stage to dance with the pro… and the rest of us are still dreaming of the opportunity.

The program included a beautiful in memoriam video tribute to the late Patti Carpenter who served as the Chair for the Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation’s Go Pink Luncheon since its inception 18 years ago. Her son Todd Payne, co-owner and founder of Focus Functional Fitness, and daughter-in-law Allison Payne were there in her honor this year. So many of us were. The resort even created a Go Pink cocktail to celebrate Patti. The Carpenters and Kornblues go way back to days on The Boca Raton’s tennis courts when we were much younger and the courts were located practically where the Go Pink lunch was held. 

Paige Kornblue and Todd Payne, son of Patti Carpenter and co-owner/founder of Focus Functional Fitness

LPGA major champion and TV analyst Morgan Pressel served as the emcee and Dr. Louise Morrell, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute Medical Director, discussed the importance of genetic testing. Dr. Morrell recently shared details on genetic testing, cancer prevention tips and her message to cancer survivors and their family members on Today’s Paige the Podcast.

I had a chance to catch up with Radiologist Dr. Kathy Schilling, Medical Director of the Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute, following the luncheon.  

“We're seeing hundreds of patients every single day, twelve months out of the year in a dark room in front of a computer screen by ourselves and sometimes you lose track of what you’re doing and what it means to the people you’re impacting. To come to this, and everything that goes on in this (Breast Cancer Awareness) month really invigorates us… realizing the importance of what we are doing on a daily basis is to the community so it’s really impactful to us - for myself and all of the girls at the Center,” said Schilling. 

At one moment during the luncheon, cancer survivors were asked to stand, a powerful moment amidst the celebrations of the day. I asked Dr. Schilling what that moment meant to her. 

“Over all of the years, when you see on the computer a mammogram that has an abnormality, you know that a woman's life is never going to be the same as when she first walked in here. That’s a journey, a long process that they have to go through and somehow they have the resolve to get through it and they do it and they do it very, very well, but even after 30-something years, it doesn’t get any easier to tell that women that she needs a biopsy” said Schilling.

Schilling has one simple message for those navigating cancer at this time.

“Plug on. Keep going. It’s a journey and step by step we will figure it out. It doesn’t happen overnight but people do so well. Hang in there and trust us and lean on us. We’ve seen it before, we can help you get through it as well,” added Schilling.

Paige Kornblue and Dr. Kathy Schilling, Medical Director of the Christine E. Lynn Women’s Health & Wellness Institute

The Go Pink Luncheon is part of the year-long Go Pink Challenge which includes events and fundraisers that support breast cancer research at Boca Raton Regional Hospital and the Foundation.

“To me, it is a community coming together to try and battle a disease and to see this many people who want to make a difference in this community is wonderful and what this day is all about,” said Boca Raton Regional Hospital Foundation President Mark Larkin.