Fighting cancer takes courage — no matter who you are or where the cancer is located. It is a disease that can devour the will to win. It is ravaging, painful and often life-changing. Beating that kind of enemy takes an army of support, a brilliant medical team and good old-fashioned courage.
Kimball Bowles Lauritzen, Omaha community leader and philanthropist, knows the battle well. She has been living with gynecological cancer for five years. Her unwavering spirit and ability to inspire others makes her The Nebraska Medical Center’s 2004 Star of Courage Award winner.
“I feel I represent every person who has survived this disease,” Lauritzen said. “I want to celebrate that they’ve survived and that we’re still here. I also want to honor those whom we have lost. They fought hard and we will miss each one. We’re fighting harder and living longer and that’s what’s important.”
Lauritzen found inspiration in her long-time friend Liz Karnes who died last year after a 12-year struggle with cancer. Lauritzen said she found a strength in Karnes that she wants to pass on to others.
“She was there with me from before the surgery until we lost her. I want to pass that on as best I can because Liz helped hundreds and hundreds of people. You can’t pay people back, but you can pass it on and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Despite her own struggle with cancer, Lauritzen’s commitment to helping others made her a perfect choice for the inaugural Star of Courage award, which she will receive during a tribute to cancer survivors Saturday (Aug. 28) at the Qwest Center Omaha. Called “A Celebration of Courage – A Breakfast for Cancer Survivors” is sponsored by The Nebraska Medical Center.
The breakfast is part of a celebrity fund-raising weekend hosted by television star Marg Helgenberger, a Nebraska native, and her husband, actor Alan Rosenberg. Helgenberger’s mother, Kay Snyder, is a breast cancer survivor. Proceeds from the event will benefit oncology patients at The Nebraska Medical Center.
The breakfast is free to cancer survivors and a guest in recognition of their struggle, their disease and their determination.
“A positive attitude is so important in the fight against cancer,” said Laurtizen’s doctor Kelly Molpus, M.D., gynecological oncologist with The Nebraska Medical Center and associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and vice chairman of obstetrics and gynecology at UNMC. “Once patients get past the diagnosis and emotional shock, there is surgery, chemotherapy, lab tests and test results to endure — all of that on top of the demands of everyday life and priorities like home and family.”
“It takes every bit of strength you can muster, borrow or steal,” Lauritzen said about fighting cancer. “You just do it every day.”