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Central Oklahoma Cancer Center Hosts 20th Annual “Celebration of Life,” National Cancer Survivor’s Day Event
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May 30, 2007
OKLAHOMA CITY – Keynote speaker Cherokee Ballard, News Anchor and Reporter for News Channel 4, will speak in Oklahoma City Sunday, June 3 at the “Celebration of Life” event, sponsored by the Central Oklahoma Cancer Center at INTEGRIS Southwest Medical Center. The event will honor cancer survivors and their families and friends, who will gather at 2:00 p.m. at the Shartel Church of God, located at 11600 S. Western Ave. Cherokee’s presentation will begin at 3 p.m. and will cover her life and career, as well as her experience with surviving cancer.
Each year communities across the nation join in celebrating National Cancer Survivors’ Day with events that unite cancer survivors, families and friends. It’s a day to recognize the progress made in the early detection, treatment and research of cancer, which is in great part responsible for survivorship.
News Channel 4’s Cherokee Ballard is a familiar face in Oklahoma.
Oklahomans are familiar with Cherokee’s work as an on-air reporter and anchor in and around Oklahoma City. Her 2002 weekly series, “Cherokee’s Journal: Lessons in Living with Cancer,” took viewers on her personal journey through changes and challenges when cancer presented itself, from diagnosis, chemotherapy, to hair loss, radiation and finally, recovery.
Since January 2004, she has been a professor at the O.U. School of Journalism, instructing its “Writing for Broadcast” classes.
Cherokee grew up in Oklahoma City and is native Cherokee Indian. She is part of a small community of Native Americans within the United States who are television news anchors. Cherokee was honored in a 2001 photographic exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. called, “Cherokee Nation: A Portrait of a People.” It depicted contemporary Oklahoma Cherokees.
In 2002, she won the Cherokee Nation Medal of Honor Award and in 2001, the IABC Central Oklahoma Excel Award. She has also won the Staff Peabody Award and a Regional Emmy Award for her coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing.
Cherokee has served as board member of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Association of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Cancer Care Foundation, the James L. Hall Mind, Body and Spirit Organization, and the Native American Journalists Association. She graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in Radio/TV/Film.
“Celebration of Life” will feature complimentary lunch, music and a butterfly release to celebrate the lives of cancer survivors. For more information, please call (405) 629-3204.
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INTEGRIS Health Corporate Communications
3030 N.W. Expressway
Suite 1620
Oklahoma City, 73112
(405) 951-4826 |
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