Dorothy: [00:00:00] Today we’re taking you live, sort of, to the Pasadena Convention Center, and you’re going to hear our guest at the 35th, 35 years of holding the Shrimp Boil. I know you’re going to love this episode. It’s full of stories and life, and that’s what The Rose is all about. So thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts.
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Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose. A breast center of excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re gonna hear frank discussions about tough topics and [00:01:00] you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life.
Mike: My name is Mike Samaniego and I have been helping Mark Meeker with The Rose Cooking Team for over 23 years. We’re a compilation of a number of cooking teams from the area, but uh, we have settled every year to help The Rose and we’ve become The Rose cooking team. I think the comradery from all the different, uh, guys that we have come out and help us, or all the people that come out and help us, they, uh, generously give their time and their, uh, talent to come and support The Rose because all of, uh, most every one of them have been, uh, touched by breast cancer.
It’s a great group of fellas that get together when they’re asked by The Rose to help support. Every year we just clear our calendars and we’re [00:02:00] here and it’s not usually, uh, very cool when we’re doing it. And it’s a big sacrifice, but we love to do it. My mother in law was a survivor of cancer for many years. And then, so, with her being a survivor, that means my wife probably carries the gene and my two daughters. So I’d like to help find a cure before time runs out.
Jay: My name is Jay Campbell.
Michael: Hey, I’m Michael Bland. We’re with the Celanese Foundation, with the Celanese Clear Lake Plant. The Rose just has such a reputation across Houston, across Texas. And for us, our foundation, the Celanese Foundation, has really been focusing on Uh, working with foundations and other non profit organizations that are right here in our local community.
And, uh, so that made a really good fit and alignment for us to become a sponsor and get more involved with the, The Rose here in the Houston area. And, uh, we’re really happy that we’ve done it. [00:03:00] It’s been an amazing experience. Great organization, great people. And, uh, absolutely, Uh, just love all the support that they’ve given us to bring us into to show us how we can support and be a better community partner throughout this process. It’s been amazing.
Jay: For us, I think it’s more about the people in the community. So being able to come out and support that. I mean, it really means a lot for this, for this business that we’re in. So for us to expand out, it’s just even better to be able to come in here with this. There’s a lot of organizations that we help out with. Michael knows more about the MoneyWise, how much we work with all the other communities.
Michael: The amazing thing about our Celanese Foundation that we really love the most is, uh, at the local level, our corporation allows us to really put together a team to, uh, to reach out. To find out what means the most to our employees who live and work in this area, and what is it that we want to go after, where is our passion from a collective group here at our site in Clear Lake?[00:04:00]
And, uh, I think that’s the beauty of the Celanese Foundation is that they allow us to do that. And, uh, and that’s how we found and came to Working with The Rose is just because of the amount of care. Some of our employees have actually worked with The Rose for many years already, and we were able to And so we want to hear that, partner with that, take that to our board of directors, and really just build the support that we’re looking for to do the alignment and to do the local community projects, things that mean the most to our folks at the Clear Lake site, and which that aligns with all the hard work and the amazing work that The Rose does for this area, and for those reasons, we’re in, we’re in all the way.
And, and those are the things that the Selanese Foundation are good for, is really looking for. opportunities in our local community areas and, uh, and just, and just embracing those and sponsoring those and supporting those. We’re involved with many other organizations here. [00:05:00] Habitat for Humanity is a good one. Um, and we do, uh, quite a few of the, the local school events and charities and things like that. Uh, so all those types of efforts we do. And, uh, we’re just happy to be a part of them.
Jay: Following up with what Michael said, you know, it’s all about the community and giving back. You know, we go to work every day and having the ability to get back to the community is a big thing for us. We want to show the community that we are a chemical plant, but we care about the community. We care about the people. We care about things that people want. So we’re out there doing what we can to help out the community and help out the people.
Paul: Hi, my name is Paul Guerrero. My wife was actually helped out by The Rose before we got married. And, um, if you have a chance, she’s on season one of the podcast. So check that out, Marisol Guerrero. And I tell people without The Rose, there’s a good chance she might not be here. So anytime we can help out The Rose, we will be here to help with whatever we can do.[00:06:00]
Right before we started dating, she was diagnosed. So. She didn’t tell me for a little while, um, because she didn’t want to, I guess, scare me off. Um, but it just made us grow closer and, you know, without The Rose, who knows where she’d be. As a caretaker, it was important to be emotionally supportive through all of her surgeries and biopsies.
Because of her type of cancer, cystosarcoma phalloides, it wasn’t As bad as some others, I would say, just because she didn’t have to go through chemo. She didn’t have to go through any of that. It was just more of, for my wife was, am I going to pass it on to my daughters? And more the emotional part of what am I going to do if it spreads?
So once she had her surgery and they did the biopsies and, um, it was just, more emotional support. My advice to caretakers would be to just do [00:07:00] what you can to make them comfortable and be that emotional support that they need, because a lot of times it’s more just emotional than the physical. Just knowing they have somebody who can support them and be there for them through the different trials and tribulations they may face.
Whatever we can do, it’s really just being there for them, you know, not only as emotional support, well, really emotional support is the biggest thing. Just they have their good days or bad days. And it’s important for us to just be there through that, to just support them in any way we can.
Lisa Helfman: Hi, I’m Lisa Helfman, managing director of public affairs for H E B Houston. The Rose is a very special nonprofit to H E B. We love Dorothy Gibbons and think she is dynamo and what she’s created is incredible. There are so many women that would not have the healthcare that they need and deserve without The Rose. And it’s not just diagnosis, but it’s helping people all the way through [00:08:00] treatment. And that’s what we believe is so special that the healthcare system is hard to navigate. And we specifically help sponsor patient navigators to make that process. That’s what is already so incredibly difficult for families and the people going through treatment, just a little bit easier, um, to navigate the system in the language that, you know, and to understand what’s needed can help the process and help you get to healing much faster.
We have been sponsoring The Rose for a lot of years before I came into the picture because it fits H E B’s pillars. Exactly. We want to help people that but for our assistance might not have access to the things they need. And that’s why we sponsor The Rose because we think that it is a niche of people that would not have access to women’s health care and preventative and then also helping them navigate through treatment in whatever fashion they need without that help.
So that is why H E B came in early on and has been a sponsor for many years. And then [00:09:00] when I came into this role five years ago, it was a no brainer for me. I met Dorothy and the rest was history. The Rose helped one of my manager’s moms navigate through breast cancer. And, um, a Hispanic woman that barely spoke English, at the time, she didn’t have insurance. She didn’t have access to a mammogram, but she was able to seek treatment through The Rose. And that led to a road of recovery. And so that’s very special to us. And I know that’s one of thousands of stories of women who, but for the detection by The Rose wouldn’t be living a long, healthy life.
Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. This podcast is produced by Speke Podcasting and brought to you by The Rose. Visit TheRose.Org to learn more about our organization. Subscribe to our podcast, share episodes with friends and join the conversation on social media using #LetsTalkAboutYourBreasts. We welcome your feedback and suggestions. Consider supporting The Rose. Your gift can make the difference [00:10:00] to a person in need. And remember, self care is not selfish. It’s essential.
