COMMUNITY
KEEPING HOPE AND MEMORIES ALIVE RINGS OF GOLD SHINE IN HOUSTON
Local mother , art director , cancer activist ( and editor ’ s note : my dear friend ) ALTHEA LEE is on a mission : engaging the community to find a homerun cure for all forms of cancer , starting first with pediatric brain cancer .
Seven years ago , Lee , the Houston director of The Cure Starts Now – Houston Hearts of Gold Chapter , and her husband , HENRY , lost their daughter , NICOLE , to this disease . In honor of Nicole Lee , the foundation is set to host their first 7 Rings of Gold Walk on Saturday , March 4 , from 9 – 11:30am at the Memorial High School track . The family-friendly event benefits The Cure Starts Now Foundation . There will be food , booths , music and lots of fun – and since it ’ s a walk , anyone can do it .
The 7 Rings of Gold Walk will start and finish at the track with seven laps around the track to remember Nicole Lee ’ s seven years of life , which were cut short by DIPG , an aggressive , inoperable tumor of the brain stem . Nicole would have been a freshman at Memorial High School today . She was a student at Hunter ’ s Creek Elementary and a ballet student at the Houston Ballet . She wanted to be a teacher , and prayed every day to have a little brother . ( Miraculously , Nicole ’ s prayers came true three years after her passing , when Henry , Althea and sister Natalie Lee welcomed Nathan Lee to their family .)
For 18 months , Nicole bravely battled cancer with the hope that one day she would be cured . Her faith touched those who saw her journey and inspired her family to create this new organization . “ We are so excited to see our community come together to make a difference in the medical world ,” says Althea . “ Nicole would want us to believe that all things are possible with a little faith . She never gave up and neither will we in our fight against cancer .”
To register online : www . thecurestartsnow . webconnex . com / houstonwalk2017 or email Althea Lee at althealee @ comcast . net for a registration form .
By Tim Moloney Photography by Sofía van der Dys
38 LOCAL | february 17