SEARCY, Ark. – Unity Health recently celebrated the 26thAnnual Barbara Montgomery Memorial Breast Cancer Awareness Luncheon.

The luncheon honored the lives of breast cancer survivors, those currently battling and those who have lost their battle with the disease. This year’s theme was ‘Beautifully Inspired.’ For an artist, each piece is unique and different, but the artist goes through the same journey to get to the finished project. In our lives, sometimes the journey does not always feel or look beautiful, but God ca make a masterpiece out of it.

Local artist, Jason White, created a ‘Beautifully Inspired’ canvas throughout the program of a beautiful pink flower. Unity Health welcomed Cancer Coordinator at Unity Health – White County Oncology, Lisa Hill, RN and breast cancer survivor, Debbie Pickens as this year’s speakers.

Breast cancer survivor, Debbie Pickens, Good Afternoon Arkansas co-anchor, Ansley Watson, Artist, Jason White and Cancer Coordinator, Lisa Hill.

Hill recently came to Unity Health with almost four decades of nursing experience as the clinic’s first Cancer Coordinator. She explained how her role is to provide patients with education about their diagnosis, introduce them to the rest of their healthcare team and guide and support patients through the challenges of cancer. She is a registered nurse, trained to work side by side with a patients’ physician to ensure quality and timely care.

Pickens shared her story of faith and endurance throughout her battle in 2018. She spoke on the excellent care provided and the friendships she developed with Dr. Ryan Koch and the oncology staff. She also shared her last scan showed she was still in remission. Ansley Watson, co-anchor of Good Afternoon Arkansas on KATV Channel 7, served as emcee for the luncheon for the first time.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women in the U.S. will be diagnosed with the disease in her lifetime. The Breast Cancer Research Foundation said it is estimated 271,270 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women in the U.S. in 2019 and there are more than 3.5 million breast cancer survivors alive in the nation today. Women ages 40 to 54 should receive mammograms annually.

For more information about cancer services, please call White County Oncology at (501) 278-3297. For more information concerning breast cancer, visit www.cancer.org.