Special Events Manager Shannon McNair takes us behind the scenes of The Rose’s annual Shrimp Boil, a nearly 40‑year tradition where fresh Gulf shrimp, auctions, raffles, and desserts turn a casual Saturday with 800 of your closest friends and family into a lifeline for breast health for women in our 45-county service area….Read More

Despite facing a 50% higher risk of breast cancer due to her family history and ethnicity, Kim Roxie is determined to make a difference by supporting The Rose and founding LAMIK Beauty, a makeup line for women of color, as she discusses her personal journey and efforts to rally the Black community in the fight against breast cancer with Dorothy…Read More

A casual night watching sports, a quick self-exam, and a lump that did not belong there. Faced with no insurance and four months of not knowing what to do, Felicia Kent walked into a neighborhood clinic, received a referral to The Rose, and heard the three words that changed everything: you have cancer. In this episode, she talks about choosing a treatment center, using research and strict adherence to medication to blunt chemo side effects, and learning to live with radiation fatigue, lymphedema, neuropathy, and a body that will never be the same. She also shares how faith, a determined daughter, an emotional support dog, and a calling to serve other survivors led her to start a nonprofit, finish her psychology degree, and focus on practical support and early mammograms in the African American community….Read More

Marcella Herrera, representing the Canopy Cancer Survivorship Center at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center, discusses the comprehensive support programs offered by their all-volunteer staff to help survivors thrive after their cancer journey, emphasizing the significance of having a non-relative empathetic support system and why such support is crucial for survivors and their families in this episode with Dorothy…Read More

Some women clear their calendar for a mammogram. Others step onto a 40-foot pink coach in their office parking lot. As Director of Mobile Services at The Rose, Shelly Kot oversees a pink fleet of five mobile mammography coaches that deliver the same 3D breast cancer screening you’d get in a breast health center, to women across 45 Southeast Texas counties. During this conversation, she talks about the moving parts that keep those rolling clinics on the road, the disappointment when a failed generator or quality check shuts a mobile day down, and why she still puts on a badge and does mammograms herself. She also shares how being raised by her grandparents, working inside both nonprofit and for-profit systems, and parenting a daughter shapes the way she teaches women to push for answers when something feels wrong….Read More

Jennifer Parrish, Manager of Business Services at the Lighthouse of Houston, joins Dorothy to share her story. Parrish talks about managing work at the Lighthouse of Houston, overcoming transportation issues for treatments, and addressing misconceptions around breast cancer….Read More

En este episodio, conversamos con la Dra. Cotes, radióloga experta en salud mamaria, para aclarar muchos de los mitos y preocupaciones comunes que existen sobre la mamografía. Desde la temida radiación hasta los diferentes tipos de exámenes disponibles, la Dra. Cotes nos explica de manera sencilla cómo la mamografía es una herramienta segura y crucial para detectar el cáncer de mama en etapas tempranas. Además, hablamos sobre el impacto de la densidad mamaria y la importancia de los exámenes anuales, así como las últimas innovaciones tecnológicas, como la resonancia magnética y los ultrasonidos, que ayudan a mejorar los diagnósticos. Si tiene duda sobre su salud mamaria o la mamografía, este episodio es para usted….Read More

Being uninsured, speaking a different language, or not understanding a 40-page form should never decide who lives or dies. In this episode, patient navigators Laura Tovar and Elizabeth Esparza walk us through what really happens after an uninsured woman hears “you have breast cancer” at The Rose. They explain how they review applications before diagnosis, sit in the room with the radiologist, and answer the first question they always hear: “How am I going to pay for this?” They also talk about the maze behind programs like Medicaid for Breast and Cervical Cancer and Harris Health, what it takes to keep coverage from lapsing in the middle of chemo, and the extreme steps some families take, from moving counties to divorcing, just to qualify. Along the way, Laura and Elizabeth share what it costs them emotionally to carry these stories, why they sometimes cry with husbands and children, and how quilts, gas cards, summer camps, and rent assistance become part of making sure no woman has to face breast cancer or the paperwork alone….Read More

Jennifer Pareya’s support for The Rose spans more than twenty years. It all started with her mom’s breast cancer experience. Jennifer’s mom Judy—another ardent supporter of The Rose—was diagnosed. After beating breast cancer, she insisted on the family giving back. And they’ve done so tenfold…Read More

Nonprofit leaders dream of someone walking in and saying, “I’m going to give you a million dollars.” Very few ever see it happen. In this episode, a longtime supporter explains why she chose to fund multiple mobile coaches, help open an East Texas hub, and seed The Rose’s Mammogram to Medical Home program instead of paying for brick and mortar. She talks about dividing her mother’s unrestricted giving fund among education, medical care, and conservation, and why she looks for small organizations whose work sends “tentacles” into whole communities and generations. From a women’s bakery in Africa that feeds thousands of children and sends girls to school, to knowledge mobiles, orphaned elephants, and seed grants for students, she returns over and over to one idea: food and health give people a chance at any future….Read More