Two October events to benefit McLeod Cancer Center

The McLeod Health Foundation’s 10th Annual An Evening of Hope Cancer Benefit Dinner featuring Dr. Ann Kulze, a nationally recognized expert in nutrition and wellness, will be Oct. 22 at the Country Club of South Carolina. The evening also includes a reception and silent auction.

The dinner is underwritten and hosted by The SIM Group. The Presenting Sponsor for this year’s event is Nucor-Darlington. All proceeds will benefit the programs and services of the McLeod Cancer Center for Treatment and Research.

In memory of longtime Board of Trustees member J. Erwin Paxton’s dedicated service to McLeod Health and the Foundation, this year’s event will be presented and named in his honor. Paxton died July 7.

Kulze will deliver the keynote address on “Just Say Whoa to Cancer.” As a physician, she is on a personal crusade to share with as many people as possible the joys of living well. She is a nationally recognized expert and motivational speaker in the areas of nutrition, healthy lifestyles and disease prevention.

Funds from this year’s event will go toward the purchase of a Dedicated Breast MRI Biopsy Table, which costs nearly $195,000. According to a McLeod Health press release, breast MRI has the highest sensitivity for early detection of breast cancer in high-risk patient groups. The biopsy table will allow for a customized exam that performs more accurate biopsies by permitting access to every quadrant of the breast. This addition to the McLeod Breast Health Program will improve diagnosis, provide access to better treatment options locally and possibly increase survival for cancer patients by detecting cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage. McLeod Health will be the fourth hospital in the state to offer this cutting-edge technology.

More than 1,000 new cases of cancer in the region are diagnosed by McLeod oncologists each year, according to the release. Additionally, McLeod has been the only hospital in the region accredited as a Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer for more than three decades. The 28-bed oncology unit at McLeod is the largest in the region and provides care to patients newly diagnosed with cancer, those in active treatment or those who require hospice care.

The first benefit dinner took place in 2000 as a result of the vision of Dr. Mary Dean Brewer, the foundation’s executive director at that time who had just begun her own fight with cancer. She died in 2002.

Tickets for this year’s event are $100 per person. Those interested in attending should call the McLeod Health Foundation office at (843) 777-2694 or visit its Web site, www.mcleodfoundation.org.

In addition to the annual benefit dinner, Kulze will be speaking at the Drs. Bruce & Lee Foundation Library to share her thoughts and passion on healthy living and nutrition. There will be an opportunity for the public to meet her and have their books autographed by her. The event will be at noon Oct. 22 at the library, 519 S. Dargn St., Florence. The cost is $25 and includes lunch.

This event is a joint effort by the Friends of the Florence County Library and the McLeod Health Foundation and it is sponsored by Commander Health Care Facilities. Proceeds will benefit projects of the Friends and the McLeod Cancer Center for Treatment and Research. For tickets to the luncheon, call Friends of the Florence County Library at (843) 413-7065.