High Priorities Put in Order : Golf and Tennis Tournament Benefits Support Programs for Cancer Patients
Cancer survivor Wanda Cobb has a message for women who have learned they have breast cancer: “Get all of the information you can before anyone does any cutting. Be informed. More lumpectomies can be done. More breasts can be saved.”
Cobb, who was discovered to have breast cancer in 1981, and her husband, Dr. Ty Cobb--director of cardiology at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange--were among guests at High Priority’s golf and tennis tournament held at the Ritz-Carlton on Monday.
Said Ty Cobb during the post-tourney cocktail party: “It has been three years since Wanda had two bone marrow transplants . . . she’s going to the gym four times a week, golfing twice a week. Incredible. It’s like nothing ever happened.”
During her stay in the oncology hospital at the University of Texas, Wanda Cobb had a family member at her side every day. “I think family support is crucial,” Ty Cobb said.
It was Wanda Cobb who founded the Orange County chapter of High Priority, the breast cancer research and information network of the AMC Cancer Research Center in Denver.
Proceeds from the tourney and awards dinner will go to High Priority’s speakers’ bureau and pre-surgical partners’ program. “Our cancer survivors talk on the phone to women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer and help walk them through their fears,” said event chairwoman Connie Murphy.
High Priority volunteer Esther Munoz-Ross plans to expand the speaker’s bureau.
“I feel I have a unique contribution to make to the Hispanic community since I am a woman, a Hispanic and a nurse,” Munoz-Ross said. “To begin with, I plan to contact the Hispanic Nurse Assn. of Orange County--get them to take care of themselves. Sometimes medical practitioners are just too busy taking care of others to pay attention to themselves.
“I also want to take the program to St. Jude Medical Center’s prenatal care program for indigent women. Eighty percent of them are Hispanic.”
Olivia Johnson is president of High Priority. Committee members included Betty Belden-Palmer and Peggy La Grandeur. Actor Lyle Waggoner was auctioneer.
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South Coast Repertory bash: Supporters of South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa gathered at the Back Bay ranch of Barbara Young on Tuesday afternoon to sample the action that will take place on July 10 at the theater’s “Wild West Show, a Rootin’ Tootin’ Celebration.” An exhibition of horseback riding and roping and horseshoe tossing took place on the bluff.
“We’re gearing up for the granddaddy of them all,” said gala chairwoman Barbara Glabman of the theater’s upcoming end-of-season auction.
Guests at the $45-per-person shindig will enjoy an al fresco buffet, silent and live auctions and performances by SCR professionals and volunteers. “Volunteers will join a team of SCR designers, actors and technicians to produce a one-time-only theatrical event,” Glabman said.
Auction items will include a ride with SCR’s artistic director Martin Benson in his open cockpit biplane and a cameo appearance in the theater’s annual production of “A Christmas Carol.” For information, call (714) 957-2602.