The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Living angel shown at Life Savers Ball
American Cancer Society staged a 32nd annual Life Savers Ball
Marcy Calvert, founder of Power 4 Pink, is this year’s recipient of the Alex and Maria Zolli Living Angel Award.
The announcement was made during the 32nd annual Life Savers Ball hosted by the American Cancer Society on March 3 at Emerald Event Center at 33040 Just Imagine Drive in Avon.
Calvert received the award from the eponymous Dr. Alexander Zolli while 10 former Living Angel award recipients looked on from the capacity crowd.
In announcing the award, Zolli said five dominant features define a living angel: family, professional, patient, champion and person.
Family: Zolli said Calvert was born into a tight-knit family in Lakewood and took care of her parents as they battled illnesses later in life.
Professional: According to Zolli, Calvert got her start as a staff nurse before moving to the intensive care unit and finally assuming the reigns of Intensive Care Nurse Manager.
“This is where I first met her over 30 years ago: a caring and analytical young bedside nurse who quickly impressed me with her abilities,” Zolli said.
Patient: In 2008 Calvert was diagnosed with breast cancer, Zolli said. Because the mass itself was too large for immediate surgery, she underwent chemo and radiation therapy. Throughout her treatment, Calvert continued in her duties as Intensive Care Nurse Manager.
Champion: It was during this treatment that Calvert realized some of her fellow patients would struggle to carry the costs of their treatment, Zolli said. This inspired the creation of Power 4 Pink.
He quoted a section of a letter Calvert circulated seeking help in starting the charitable organization: “It is my hope to first help, prevent and educate about this disease and perhaps someday give as many women – young, old, white, black, educated or homeless – the same fighting chance that I was blessed to receive.”
According to Zolli, since the organization’s inception in 2009, it has raised more than $300,000 which are used for educational seminars, assistance with copays, transportation to and from testing and treatments as well as financial assistance to those in treatment without proper adequate insurance.
Person:”We celebrate a gifted professional who inspires much admiration, but seeks no attention or praise,” Zolli said. “She has turned the crucible of cancer into a source of comfort to those who follow her in this journey. She is a role model for all. She gives and counts not the cost.”
After accepting the award, Calvert said she was happy to be honored.
“It’s certainly nothing that you start to think about, that this is where this is going to go, but I am just so ecstatic that this is where I am today because the people here have done tons of work around cancer and I’m honored to be in that same group of people,” she said.
Calvert described Power 4 Pink as an organization that attempts to take care of the working poor who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. She said receiving the Living Angel award before a group of glamorously-dressed people illustrates the need for the organization.
“(The patients are) certainly not going to be at an event like this,” she said. “They’re struggling to get by day to day most times and that’s where our heart is around. We want to make sure that they’re not worried about electricity, or where they’re getting their food.”
Calvert said Power 4 Pink’s next event will be a poker run with Wellington Eagles in June. To participate visit power4pink.com.