When you lose a loved one to cancer, it strengthens your desire to see others avoid such pain, Condoleezza Rice, Ph.D., said Tuesday during a visit to UNMC.
Dr. Rice — who served as Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009 — lost her mother, Angelena, to breast cancer in 1985.
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Condoleezza Rice, Ph.D., second from left, U.S. Secretary of State from 2005 to 2009, talks with UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., right, on Tuesday as Eppley Cancer Center Director Ken Cowan, M.D., Ph.D., second from right, and Bob Bell look on. Dr. Rice was in Omaha on Tuesday to receive the Ambassador of Hope Award and to launch a tour in support of her book, “Extraordinary, Ordinary People.” (David Hussey) |
Dr. Rice was 15 when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1970. Thanks to medical treatment, Dr. Rice got 15 more years with her mother.
“Those 15 years made all the difference,” Dr. Rice said.
With access to advances in medicine that have occurred since 1985, her mother would have been able to see Dr. Rice “become an older woman,” the Secretary of State said.
As the former provost of Stanford University, Dr. Rice said she strongly supports the work done by university researchers to develop cures to fight devastating diseases.
While on campus, Dr. Rice toured the Durham Research Center II and visited labs where researchers work to fight the disease that took her mother’s life.
Dr. Rice had two reasons for her visit to Omaha on Tuesday:
- She received the Ambassador of Hope Award at the Ambassador of Hope Gala on Tuesday night at Qwest Center Omaha; and
- To launch a tour in support of her new book, “Extraordinary, Ordinary People.”