by guest contributor Kiki Ryan Burger
Photo credit: Tony Powell Photography
“One of the first people who called me after my breast cancer diagnosis was Nancy Brinker,” said journalist and former “Good Morning America” host Joan Lunden who emceed the event at The Kennedy Center, “offering advice, expert doctors and simply friendship.”
“It is my great honor to be a part of the Honoring the Promise gala this evening. Because of Susan G. Komen, many others like myself have hope and new treatments.” In June 2014, Lunden was diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, a rare and aggressive form of the disease.”
Joan Lunden
Susan G. Komen® honored U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida and Carlyle Group CEO David Rubenstein for their contributions in fighting breast cancer at the fifth annual “Honoring the Promise” gala held at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and raised ‘almost $2 million to fund grants for Komen’s 19 breast cancer grantees in the National Capital Region – an area with the highest incidence of and mortality rate from breast cancer in the nation.’
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (center in blue)
“It is truly special to receive an award named for a woman who reduced stigmas by publicly talking about her own battle against breast cancer at a time when it was considered inappropriate to do so, thereby helping other women know that they were not alone and helping start an important national conversation. I thank Susan G. Komen for this incredible honor and for their leadership in fighting breast cancer,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-23). “Once I recovered from my own battle against the disease, I knew I had to translate that experience into action by writing legislation with a simple premise: knowledge is power.”
U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Amb. Nancy Brinker
Rep. Wasserman Schultz was the recipient of the Betty Ford Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to her by last year’s recipient, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, and Susan Ford Bales, daughter of the award’s namesake, the late former First Lady Betty Ford. Rep. Wasserman Schultz was honored for her advocacy on behalf of women with breast cancer, especially those diagnosed at younger ages. In 2009 she successfully passed the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young, or EARLY Act, an Act that creates education campaigns about the threats of breast cancer in young women.
David Rubenstein, Nancy Brinker and Bruce Hornsby
Carlyle CEO David Rubenstein was the recipient of the Mission Advancement Award, presented to him by Komen founder Nancy Brinker and Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. Rubenstein, a Komen Global Ambassador and well-known philanthropist, was honored for his steadfast support of Komen’s critical breast cancer research and global and community initiatives.
“Thanks to events like Honoring the Promise, we have been able to invest more than $35 million in more than 300 community grants to serve low-income, uninsured and medically underserved women in the National Capital Region,” said Judith A. Salerno, M.D., M.S., president and CEO of Susan G. Komen. “While strides have been made, as long as more women die from the disease here than anywhere else in the country, there is still so much more to be done.”
