Brandi manages the tennis pro shop at Willow Fork Country Club in Katy, the club behind Pretty in Pink, an annual golf and tennis fundraiser that raised $22,000 for The Rose in a single day. She had insurance, a routine mammogram, and no reason to expect a problem until her scan came back inconclusive, then abnormal, and a biopsy she was quoted at nearly $5,000 out of pocket. In this conversation, Brandi talks honestly about the fear of waiting, the relief of a benign result, and how her whole relationship with Pretty in Pink changed once she understood exactly how the fundraiser helps all women in need….Read More

During this conversation, Ana Henriquez discusses the challenges she faced as an uninsured patient, and how The Rose provided invaluable support in guiding her through the complex insurance process. With raw honesty, she dives into emotional toll of losing her hair and the unwavering love and encouragement she received from her husband and family….Read More

Safiya felt a lump at 36, had no insurance, and almost didn’t know where to turn. Thankfully, a referral brought her to The Rose, where our patient navigation team helped her qualify for breast cancer treatment and got her first appointment at MD Anderson scheduled in just 15 days. Through all of it, our navigators walked alongside her, and her faith, anchored by a prayer her father read her the day she was diagnosed, carried her the rest of the way….Read More

Ginger Clark shares her personal journey battling breast cancer. Despite the challenges, she expresses gratitude and highlights the importance of early detection through regular mammograms. The episode also delves into rural healthcare issues, emphasizing the struggles small hospitals face in providing adequate services. Ginger speaks to Dorothy about healthcare access, particularly for uninsured women, and the complexity of reconstructive surgery decisions…Read More

Susan has been connected to The Rose since the mid-1980s, when her boss at Texas Commerce Bank handed her a stack of newspaper articles and asked her to learn everything she could about a surgeon named Dr. Dixie Melillo. That assignment turned into a decades-long relationship with The Rose, years of emceeing fundraising style shows, and an unbroken commitment to the mission that continues today. She launched the Louise McBee Circle of Life Circle of Wreaths, an annual wreath auction run entirely by Art Park Players volunteers in honor of her mother. Her message throughout the years is simple, yet profound: everyone carries a light, and even the smallest flame can be the brightest thing in someone’s darkest moment….Read More

How do you talk about breast cancer when it’s something your community rarely discusses, sometimes because of culture, sometimes because of faith, and sometimes just because it’s hard?…Read More

En este episodio, hablamos con Maribel, sobreviviente de cáncer de mama diagnosticada en The Rose. Maribel comparte cómo el cáncer de su hermana menor fue una señal de alerta que la motivó a realizarse una mamografía sin seguro médico. Gracias a la ayuda de The Rose, pudo recibir un diagnóstico a tiempo, lo que fue crucial para su tratamiento….Read More

Marilyn is an attorney, CPA, and president of the Bill and Helen Crowder Foundation, the private foundation whose generosity helped build The Rose’s podcast studio. She has been a Rose patient since the late 1970s, when she came in for her very first mammogram after moving to Houston. Decades later, she found herself in a very different role, as a Stage III HER2 positive breast cancer patient. Her advice is simple and direct: check yourself between mammograms, get second opinions, take care of yourself first, and know that The Rose and organizations like it exist so that every woman, insured or not, has a path to care….Read More

Linda Petticrew is one determined woman. She’s worked hard and many long hours to build a successful career as an Executive Assistant to some of the top CEO’s in the city. But her real strength tenacity was when she faced breast cancer, not once but twice. Diagnosed at a young age, she fought and won her battle and then twenty years later had to fight it again….Read More

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