women in business

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A salute to the women of the Lowcountry

Each year the Moultrie News honors the women of this

community who make it great. In our annual special section we highlight women who are

successful not only in their business but in their philanthropy and their

dedication to family.We recognize that there are thousands of women east of

the Cooper that deserve to be recognized. Here are just a few.

Center for Women to host Women’s Networking eventOn Monday, Nov. 12, the

Center for Women will host its 11th annual Networking Event for Lowcountry work-ing women at The Citadel Holliday Alumni House from 5:30 until 8 p.m.

Special guests include Dr. Dorothy Perrin Moore, au-thor of “Womenpreneurs - 21st Century Success Strate-gies” and Professor Emeritus of The Citadel School of Busi-ness Administration.

Dr. Moore will lead a dis-cussion on how to be a suc-cessful entrepreneur with a panel of four local entrepre-neurs who are featured in

Womenpreneurs. The panel includes Anita

Zucker, CEO of Intertech, Nikki Hardin founder of Skirt magazine, Judith Moore, CEO of the Charles-ton Cookie Company and Jennet Robinson Alterman, executive director of the Cen-ter for Women.

After the panel discussion participants will have the op-portunity to connect with 30 other working women dur-ing three 15-minute rounds of “speed networking.”

“More than 150 local wom-en attend this annual net-working event,” said Leigh

Ann Garrett, Center for Women events and public-ity manager. “It is a great op-portunity for women in any career to network their way to success.

So ladies, don’t forget your business cards!”

The event is being held in partnership with The Citadel School of Business Adminis-tration and is sponsored by Insightion.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. For reg-istration information please visit www.c4women.org or call 843-763-7333.

Direct event link is www.

c4women.org/networking_event

The only comprehensive women’s development orga-

nization in South Carolina, the Center for Women (C4W) is a 501(c)3 non-profit orga-nization whose mission is to

make personal and profes-sional success an everyday event for women in the Low-country.

Junior League Cookbook included in Classic Cookbook CompilationThe Junior League of

Charleston’s “Charleston Receipts” cookbook will be included in “101 Classic American Cookbooks of the Twentieth Century,” due next month.

The work, authored by Mar-vin J. Taylor and published by Rizzoli, is a compilation of the most notable cookbooks of the twentieth century and is like a culinary hall of fame. “Charleston Receipts,” first published in 1950 and the oldest Junior League cook-book still in print, will be fea-tured among notable cook-

books by Julia Child, James Beard, Martha Stewart and Thomas Keller.

Called the Bible of all Junior League cookbooks, “Charles-ton Receipts” features recipes that have served Charleston hostesses for decades and is considered a “must” in any cookbook collection.

Described by Food & Wine as “reflecting the nostal-gia for the Old-South that prevailed among Lowcoun-try aristocrats during the postwar (Civil War) era,” “Charleston Receipts” fea-tures a recipe collection as

colorful and timeless as the area that it represents.

The recipes were influenced by the family cooks, many of whom spoke the Gullah dialect, a centuries-old At-lantic Creole language that is illustrated and preserved throughout the pages of the cookbook. For its outstand-ing preservation of local and regional culinary customs and its benefits to the local community, “Charleston Re-ceipts” was inducted into the Walter S. McIlhenny Com-munity Cookbooks Hall of Fame in 1990.

In addition to “Charles-ton Receipts,” the Junior League offers “Charleston Receipts Repeats” and “Par-ty Receipts.” Cookbooks can be purchased at www.cookinginthesouth.com.

Proceeds from cookbook sales fund the Junior League of Charleston’s, mission to promote volunteerism, de-velop the potential of wom-en, and to fight hunger and homelessness in our com-munity.

The Junior League raises more than $100,000 annu-ally to further this mission.

The organization combines trained volunteers with the money it puts into the com-munity for double impact. Last year, Junior League members invested more than 2,100 volunteer hours valued at $45,000.

The Junior League of Charleston, is an organiza-tion of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving the community through the ef-fective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

It is one of nearly 300

Leagues worldwide dedicat-ed to these purposes. Since 1923, the Junior League of Charleston has served our community by developing collaborative programs with other community agencies and serving as a catalyst for positive change in areas ranging from education to child abuse to feeding the homeless. For more informa-tion on becoming a member or financially supporting the Junior League of Charleston, Inc., please call 843-63- 5284 or visit www.jlcharleston.org.

Wednesday , October 31 , 2012 _____________________________www.moultrienews.com ___________________________________ MOULTRIE NEWS. 1 D

BY SULLY [email protected]

Watching loved ones suf-fer, as cancer takes its grue-some toll, is painful. Being the caregiver to that loved one brings an extra burden to family members. But it also opens doors to lasting memories and special mo-ments one may not have had otherwise.

Local resident Jenny Taylor Kennington was born in the Lowcountry, and graduated from Wando High School.

Her mother, Gerda M. Tay-lor, passed away six years ago in February of 2006. Ken-nington was her caregiver for nine years.

“She was from Munich, Germany, and had the most contagious laugh of anyone I’ve ever known in my life.

But don’t make her mad,” Kennington said.

Kennington was raised in a home where Towne Centre now sits. When the shopping center was built, her family moved to Awendaw. Shortly after that move, her mother noticed a lump. She was scared and didn’t want to go to the doctor.

By the time family mem-bers convinced her to go, at the age of 60 years old, the lump was the size of a pen-cil eraser. And by the time doctors scheduled it to be removed, it was the size of a golf ball. She lost her entire breast.

Kennington was working full time and living with her mother. She had two young children.

“Mom would wake up and have panic attacks and hy-perventilate. I would help her calm her breathing,” said Kennington. “She had tough times and she fought the very bad ones.”

Once her breast was re-

moved she was in remission for five years to the day of her initial surgery. However, the tumor returned.

In fact, the cancer came back four or five more times and she did chemotherapy and radiation and fought it for nine years. She under-went multiple surgeries as well.

The last time Kennington’s mother was admitted to the hospital was to treat conges-tive heart failure. It was a side effect of the chemo and the chemicals pumped into her body all those years.

Doctors determined there wasn’t much more they could do for Kennington’s mother and hospice was arranged so that she could come home to rest comfortably.

“I went to see her in the hospital everyday and she was in for three weeks.

Kennington was to take her home on a Thursday. That Wednesday afternoon she went for a visit and went home to finish preparing the

house. “She seemed good. She

seemed like mom. She was not feeble and lethargic. I had no doubt she was com-ing home the next morning and be home with us for a while,” said Kennington. “And it didn’t happen. She was gone.”

“We got the call from Roper at 4 a.m. Feb 9. I knew she was gone when the phone rang. It was the worst feeling in the world.”

Doctors said her mother had gone to sleep and was unresponsive. Gerda M. Tay-lor passed away in her sleep.

Kennington’s son was 2 years old at the time and her daughter was 13. “It was difficult on my kids and my daughter lashed out. They were best friends.”

Eventually life got back to normal and Kennington fell in love with her soon-to-be husband Ritchard.

She and her family moved to Charlotte to begin their new lives together.

But two years to the day of the anniversary of her moth-er’s passing, Kennington’s father fell. He broke two ver-tebrae in his neck and had a stroke while recovering from the fusion surgery in his neck. Without hesitation, Ken-nington moved back home to take care of her dad.

Her husband Ritchard fol-lowed within the year. Ken-nington has not worked since his accident.

Her father has since pulled through, but Kennington and her husband live with him to keep an eye on things and help her father with simple tasks.

Her dad spent six weeks in a physical therapy cen-ter. When he started he had withered down to 165 pounds. With a 6’5” frame, 260 pounds looked natural on him.

Her dad is now back to 245 pounds and has learned to walk and eat again. He is fair-ly self sufficient and can be left alone for short periods.

Her oldest graduated Wan-do this year and is a freshman at Columbia college, with the desire to go to medical school. Her son is just 8 years old. In addition to being a mother and a caregiver, Kennington is a den leader for her son’s cub scouts.

Kennington misses her mother everyday. She said her mother had wit and loved practical jokes. She was al-ways the one taking pictures and can be found in very few. So memories are burned in their minds instead.

When Taylor passed away she had eight grandchildren and three great-grandchil-dren.

“She doted on all of us but you didn’t act up when mom-ma was around.”

Kennington feels her mother’s love all around her. Certain songs will come on the radio and things happen repeatedly that she can’t dis-miss as coincidence.

Perhaps that’s her mother showing her pride in her youngest daughter who car-ries on her German culture and perhaps acts as the fam-ily matriarch that Taylor once was.

“Mom grew up during World War II. She was 9 when the war was over. She had to go to school when air raids were going on and her house was bombed four times. Her family stayed in the same village and had to move several times while her house was being reconstruct-ed,” said Kennington.

Kennington is the only one of her siblings who speaks German and took an interest.

She even went to Munich and knew where to go because she had heard all of the stories.

“When mom died that day my sister flew in and we went to the funeral home. I went from being the baby to kind of the mom replacement. I look like and act like mom and sound like momma. And I carry on some of her quali-ties,” said Kennington.

And just like her mother did, Kennington has every-one over for Christmas in her parents’ home.

“After all this tragedy in our family. I’m glad I have my brother and two sisters in my life. Every Christmas somehow conversation turns to Momma and how she al-ways did things to make that time special.

“I guess that’s another rea-son why I insist on keeping Christmas here at her house. It’s almost like she’s here with us, and they do not put up any argument about com-ing here.”

Kennington said she does it so her mom won’t be forgot-ten or gone forever.

She admits that caregiving is stressful.

“But the way I looked at it is ‘she is my mom and the same for my dad. They took care of me my whole life and they can’t do and care for them-selves so I do what can to make sure they’re taken care of,” she said.

“I really wouldn’t change much. I can find another job but I can’t find another mom or dad. I would have taken her place and made it not so rough on her in a heart beat.”


Caregiver grateful for the special moments

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Jenny Taylor Kennington and her mother Gerda M. Taylor had a loving relationship. Jenny was her moth-er’s caretaker during her battle with breast cancer.

Wild Women Party helps ght child abuse The Dee Norton Lowcoun-

try Children’s Center’s (DN-LCC) Wild Women Party was held on Thursday, Sept. 13 at Harborside East in Mount Pleasant. The issue of child abuse significantly impacts women, with more than 75 percent of DNLCC clients coming from a female head of household family, so the goal of the annual event is to raise awareness among wom-en about the issue of abuse and the healing resources

available at DNLCC. Called the “little party that could” by the center’s benefactor, the Wild Woman Tea Party has raised funds to provide services for 83 children over the past 10 years. Child abuse is a grim reality here in our own community, and all pro-ceeds from the Wild Women Party will support the critical services for abused children and their families at DNLCC. Learn more at www.dnlcc.org.

PHOTO PROVIDED

Dr. Lisa Hunter, Jennifer Thompson, Jenny Thompson

2 D .MOULTRIE NEWS ___________________________________ www.moultrienews.com _____________________________ Wednesday , October 31 , 2012

Michelle Scarafile and Pam Hartley, co-founders of the Charleston Basket Brigade (CBB), announce that the fifth annual Charleston Bas-ket Brigade will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 20 at the Charleston Area Convention Center, Exhibit Hall C, begin-ning at 7 a.m. The nonprofit is partnering with Carolina One Real Estate, Piggly Wig-gly, Communities In Schools and Momentum Marketing to feed 3,333 families (an es-timated 20,000 people) on Thanksgiving Day by raising $100,000 through the efforts of hundreds of local volun-teers and concerned citizens. In the past four years, the Charleston Basket Brigade has raised a total of $138,990 and fed more than 27,000 lo-cal residents in need.

Close friends Hartley and Scarafile began The Charles-ton Basket Brigade in 2008 with a commitment to bring the community together to provide Thanksgiving meals for families in need in Charleston. “It’s unbeliev-able how many children go to bed hungry right here in our community,” said Hart-ley. “Over the past four years,

we’ve heard countless stories from our meal recipients and partners that if it weren’t for the brigade, these families would not have been able to enjoy a hot Thanksgiving meal,” added Scarafile.

Carolina One staffers and agents along with countless community volunteers raise money, assemble the meals at the convention center and deliver meals to the families. Communities In Schools, a non-profit dropout preven-tion organization that serves over 10,750 students (92 per-cent from low-income fami-lies) in 23 schools through-out Charleston and Berkeley County, locates the families that will receive meals based on need and maps out direc-tions for delivery.

Piggly Wiggly provides discounts on food, boxes and delivers food to the stag-ing area for assembly and delivery.

Momentum Marketing (Hartley’s company) pro-vides public relations, mar-keting, fundraising and event coordination assistance.

This year marks the largest fundraising effort yet for the brigade. For the second year

in a row, The Charleston Area Convention Center (with the support of the mayor’s office) is donating 25,000 square feet of space to serve as a central staging area for as-sembly and delivery on Nov. 20. Sixteen prominent local businesses will be collecting “Change for Change” at their cash registers. Several com-munity fundraisers are set to benefit the group.

“It only takes $30 to feed a family of four to six at Thanksgiving and every sin-gle penny we collect goes to-ward buying food,” said Sca-rafile. Hartley interjected, “We encourage everyone to get involved: families, chil-dren, classrooms. Whether

it is gathering change at your workplace or raising money at a bake sale, every last cent helps feed our neighbors that are in need.”

The meal includes a 10-12 lb. turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes with marsh-mallows, cranberry sauce, a pumpkin pie, fresh rolls and butter.

The CBB is a 501-(c)(3) nonprofit. Individual and corporate donations are tax deductible can be made on-line at www.CharlestonBas-ketBrigade.com.

All major credit cards are accepted and 100 percent of the donations go towards buying food.

TYLER [email protected]

If Pam Hartley had her way, this nomination would be divvied up among her

employees, the thousands of volunteers involved in her charity and the Charleston community.

Hartley, the founder of Mo-mentum Marketing, said her career focus is never about

herself, but about bettering those around her.

“Everything I do is about my team,” she said.

“All I’ve done is create a platform for people to thrive in.”

Hartley manages Momen-tum Marketing, a firm based on Daniel Island but which extends its services to clients in Georgia, Texas, Illinois and throughout South Caro-lina.

She has been involved in marketing since 1991, but her aspirations weren’t always angled for that field. Hartley graduated from Purde with a degree in pyschology and was pursuing a job as a social worker.

There was a statewide hir-ing freeze at the time, though, so she turned to advertising. Her mother had worked in radio advertising, and she started along that path too.

Hartley started Momen-tum Marketing in 2005 by herself.

It’s grown to a team of sev-en and her background in pyschology has helped her gain an edge.

She’s able to read her cli-ents better, and as an em-ployer, she is better equipped to motivate her team.

“I had this vision and this dream not to just start my own business, but to do things differently,” she said.

“It was a big risk to do it, because I had never run my own business.”

The firm’s title comes from her realization that success-ful marketing starts inter-nally with employee passion and motivation. She calls it “building momentum from the inside out.”

Another passion of hers is The Charleston Basket Bri-gade (CBB), which Hartley co-founded in 2008.

This year, CBB has a goal of raising $100,000 to provide about 20,000 families with Thanksgiving meals.

The organization’s motto is “When a community comes together, magic happens,” and it is exemplified through Hartley and the many volun-teers who contribute.

“Pam’s passion for her busi-ness, her clients and people in the community is immea-surable, and she deserves so

kindly to be recognized for all of the hard work she has done,” her nomination to the Women in Business sec-tion read, which came from a Momentum Marketing em-ployee.

H a r t l e y ’ s d e m e a n o r matched those comments, especially all the times she deferred the attention off herself and onto those around her.

“What drives me is my desire to serve others. I’m passionate about what I can give back,” Hartley said. “How much more can I give to someone else moreso than to myself?

“How do I take any spot-light that might ever shine on me and turn that onto the people who really make things happen everyday?”


Success starts from inside for Hartley

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Pam Hartley co-founded The Charleston Basket Brigade, which is aimed at providing Thanksgiving meals to local families. Inside each basket is a letter that reads: “This comes to you from someone who cares about you. All we ask is that you take care of yourself well enough to be able to do this for someone else one day.” Pam Hartley is a 21-year marketing veteran.

Basket Brigade to feed 20,000 residents for Thanksgiving

Wednesday , October 31 , 2012 _____________________________ www.moultrienews.com ___________________________________ MOULTRIE NEWS. 3 D

BY PENNY [email protected]

Disney World is a dream destination for so many, but the high expectations can lead to a lot of stress and a big let down. Enter travel planner Amy Sinclair, who helps families get the magi-cal, stress-free Disney trip of their dreams.

Three years ago, Sinclair decided to combine her travel industry experience with her passion for Disney to provide trips that are fun for the grown-ups as well as the children.

She had been director of operations for one of the larger cruise-only travel agencies for nine years and had taken her own family to Disney World several times. While taking some time off from her job, she found her-self planning Disney vaca-tions for friends and family members.

“Even though I knew a lot about it from my job and my own experience, it was still so overwhelming. There were so many different websites,” she said. “I was looking for one place to go to get all the information and that’s what we started in 2009.”

Her company, Ears of Ex-perience, operates out of her Daniel Island home. People thinking about going to Dis-ney World can visit her web-site, www.themouseexperts.com, where they fill out a questionnaire about where they want to stay, what kind of dining experience they want, certain characters chil-dren absolutely have to see, etc. The company provides a general itinerary that meets those basic goals. Then 30 days ahead of the trip, the client fills out another ques-tionnaire about what really matters most to this particu-lar family. Sinclair’s staff of Disney experts further fine tunes each family’s itiner-ary.

The family then gets a per-sonalized packet with dining reservations and an itinerary and other keys to a magical trip.

“Maybe they want to find some obscure character,” Sinclair explains. “We tell them where to find them. Our itinerary gets down to what bathroom to use and which ones to avoid. We help families who might have a 15-year-old and a 2-year-old juggle everything so that everyone has a great

vacation.”While at Disney, families

can text Ears of Experience to get quick answers or help. The itineraries can be sent to smart phones. Or, say the monorail is down, Sinclair and staff can text the next best option.

Before becoming a travel planner, Sinclair worked as a special needs teacher. She uses that expertise to help families with special needs and medically-challenged children enjoy that Disney vacation that they thought they never could have.

“They might require a spe-cial place to stay or there might be food allergies,” Sinclair said. We can direct them to the right places. We can help them address sen-sory issues. A lot of the rides use temperature changes. We can alert them to that and tell them what to expect and how to deal with many of these things. We let them know where the places are to go to take a time-out and decompress. As a special needs teacher, I went down and rode all the rides to try to see what would bother me,” Sinclair said.

Sinclair also uses the ex-pertise of her own two chil-

dren, Natalie and Marin. They write letters to the chil-dren detailing what they like at Disney, what restaurants and food appeal to kids their age. They both write Kids Re-views as well.

Sinclair also gives back with her company. They help the National Autism Associa-tion provide information for children with autism. They help with fund raising for several schools in the area

and give a lot to military families. “We also provide items on the Wish List for Bert’s Big Adventure, which takes special needs children and their families to Disney each year.”


Sinclair brings ‘ears of experience’ to Disney vacations

STAFF PHOTO BY PENNY PARKER

Amy Sinclair uses her travel industry expertise and her passion for Disney to help families get the Disney vacation of their dreams.

Komen Lowcountry offers community health grants

The Lowcountry Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is requesting a call for applicants for the 2013-2014 community health grants. Application deadline is noon on Dec. 7.

All prospective grantees must attend one of the fol-lowing grants training work-shops that will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Lowcountry Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the

Cure is the local partner for the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots net-work fighting breast cancer.

The Lowcountry Affili-ate of Susan G. Komen has invested more than $5 mil-lion in the 17-county service area to provide breast cancer screenings, support services and breast health education to those in need.

Seventy-five percent of net proceeds raised by the affili-

ate stay in the local commu-nities, while the remaining income goes to the national Komen for the Cure Award and Research Grant Pro-grams - supporting research, awards and educational and scientific programs around the world.

For more information, visit www.komenlowcountry.org, www.facebook.com/komen-lowcountry and www.twitter.com/komenlowcountry.


BY PENNY PARKERTHE MOULTRIE NEWS

Jennifer Heisler grew up on the water in Connecticut and has been on boats her whole life. So when she moved to Charleston five years ago, one of the first things she did was take a safe boating course taught by the Coast Guard Auxiliary.

“After moving to the Charleston area I bought a boat and I took a safe boat-ing class to learn about the area, the tides and channels,” Heisler says. After the class, members of the auxiliary asked if she wanted to get involved and she became a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 12-6 in Mount Pleasant.

She’s now been a member for about two and a half years and puts in about 40 to 50 hours a month volunteering with the auxiliary. She uses her expertise in marketing and public relations to help get the word out about the monthly safe boating classes taught by the auxiliary. She worked on several public ser-vice announcements that ran on one of the local television stations supporting the Na-tional Safe Boating program last May that kicked off with an event at the Mount Pleas-ant Waterfront Park.

Heisler is the flotilla staff officer for public affairs for

Auxiliary Flotilla 12-6 in Mount Pleasant and ensures that the local media is pro-vided with information on upcoming Coast Guard and auxiliary events and classes.

She spends countless hours doing volunteer work while still maintaining her position as director of marketing and administration for Rosen Hagood.

Heisler started working for Rosen Hagood last spring. Prior to that she had been doing marketing and public relations consulting work for several clients, including Rosen Hagood who asked her to come on full time. She oversees the day-to-day op-erations of the firm with an emphasis on marketing and PR. Rosen Hagood employes 34 people, including 14 attor-neys. The firm was founded in the 1940s.

“I like my job because I like the team and the variety,” Heisler explains. “It’s never the same day to day. There’s something challenging every day.”

The variety is also some-thing she enjoys as a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary. She has taught safe boating classes, performed public affairs work, taken photo-graphs as a member of the photo corps, crewed on boats performing patrols, helped run security patrols during the July Fourth fireworks

display and supplemented the Coast Guard during the Christmas Parade of Boats. She is also the spokesperson for Operation Safe Water and she assists the Coast Guard with its public relations work.

In 2011, the Charleston and Mount Pleasant flotillas of the Coast Guard Auxiliary participated in 19 search and rescue missions, helping to save six lives and property worth more than $200,000.

In the last year, Heisler’s group has doubled the safe boating checks in the harbor and increased the number of people taking the safe boat-ing classes.

The one-day classes run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are offered each month at the Daniel Island Library at 2301 Daniel Island Dr. They cover all aspects of safe boating and teach about the local waters, tides, locks and other things particular to Charleston area waterways. Students who pass a test at the end of the class will re-ceive a certificate from the Coast Guard and a Boater Education Card from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The classes cost $30 for in-dividuals and $35 for fami-lies of six.

“We really emphasize fam-ilies,” says Heisler. “We re-ally want to make it a family

thing.”Heisler still manages to

spend what little free time she has back out on the wa-ter. She has a motor boat and “I still get out on the water as much as I can - paddle board-ing, kayaking. I just love liv-ing in Charleston.”

To learn more about the Coast Guard Auxiliary, visit the website www.cgaux.org. To find a schedule of safe boating classes here visit www.uscgaux071206.com.


Heisler always prepared with Coast Guard Auxiliary

STAFF PHOTO BY PENNY PARKER

Jennifer Heisler has been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary since shortly after mov-ing to Charleston.

Wednesday , October 31 , 2012 _____________________________ www.moultrienews.com ___________________________________ MOULTRIE NEWS. 5 D


Practicing females: Women know women best


Dr. Jennifer Beatty believes that women are the core of a family and that taking care of yourself is essential. That’s why her specialized practice, The Breast Place has been a blessing to hundreds of women who walked in think-ing cancer was a death sen-

tence. They walked out look-ing at their lives completely differently.

Before opening The Breast Place in December 2011, Dr. Beatty was a team member at Cancer Specialists of Charles-ton. She became interested in breast diagnosis and treat-ment while as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy. She served as

general surgeon and Direc-tor of the Breast Clinic at the Charleston Naval Hospital from 2005-2009.

She was deployed to Iraq in 2007 as Marine Corps Forward with a Surgical Shock Trauma Unit. She has worked in private practice in Charleston since 2009.

In 2011, Dr. Beatty fulfilled her vision for a surgical prac-tice devoted to breast cancer research, treatment and education by opening The Breast Place.

After spending nine months in Iraq, it became painfully evident how little was offered medically for women in the military.

She was all too aware that when she was ready to begin her own family, the neces-sary medical care may not be available to her.

In terms of the importance

of women, aside from being mothers to all of those mili-tary soldiers she tended to in the field, many of those sol-diers were females.

Upon her re turn to Charleston she began her push for a breast clinic in North Charleston to treat fe-male retirees and active duty military women. She quickly discovered that the Veterans Administration didn’t even offer mammography or even half of the medical advan-tages that men had available when it came to treatment.

Dr. Beatty doesn’t just treat breast disease and cancer, but treats the fears that go along with being diagnosed. She has created a go-to prac-tice that treats the pain, fear and struggles of the whole person. She is also holisti-cally trained in nutrition and alternative medicine such as chiropractic, massage, ther-apy and acupuncture. “It’s full body health,” she said. “Common sense stuff.”

“I think health is about the overall person. If a woman says something is wrong, something is wrong. As hard as women work in their ca-reers and raising their fami-lies, you can bet they don’t have time to be sick. So if they say something is wrong, it usually is.”

Beatty explained that to truly believe that cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence, a person must believe in how essential self examination and mammog-raphy is.

“Cancer can be an impor-tant opportunity in a wom-an’s life,” Dr. Beatty said. “Ninety percent of women live through breast cancer and the advantage is that they see the truly important things in their life much brighter. They feel that those things are more precious be-cause they’ve felt close to death and it changes how we look at things.

Cancer has a way of making people better people.”

Dr. Beatty loves her job and she and her staff en-

sure women will leave there laughing. It’s an all-in-one support group and medical facility at The Breast Place.

At The Breast Place, there is no requirement of referral and no waiting. It’s a home for second opinions, a one stop shop for plastic surgery, nutrition and oncology.

“We want our recovering patients to look and feel as beautiful as they did when they walked in here,” she said.

“I love to help and empower women, and educating them is enjoyable because they can walk out of here not worry-ing as much as they would have.”

Surgeon Cynthia Morris once told Beatty “remember, every person, every patient, has a life. Your job as a sur-geon is to ensure that you don’t do anything to harm that person or their life.” She said she lives by that philoso-phy.

A tireless advocate, she was involved in changing state Medicaid policy after Ray-mond Johnson, her 26-year old male patient, was denied coverage for treatment based on gender. She performs ad-vanced breast evaluations for the Barrier Island Free Clinic and assists in navigating pa-tients to free care throughout the Lowcountry, as well as participating in local breast cancer awareness education and mammogram events. She is currently the only phy-sician at Trident Hospital performing brachytherapy for her patients, a form of radiotherapy where a radia-tion source is placed inside or next to the area requiring treatment.

Dr. Beatty attended Kansas City University of Medicine and Bioscience, and com-pleted her residency at Ohio University and Cuyahoga Falls General Hospital, as well as at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center/Horizon. Dr. Jennifer Be-atty is board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery and has recently

completed and been certified for an international course in oncoplastic surgery. She cur-rently has privileges at Roper St. Francis (West Ashley, Downtown and Mount Pleas-ant), East Cooper Regional Medical Center, and Trident Health System (Trident Hos-pital and Summerville Medi-cal Center). She is licensed in South Carolina and is an active member of the Ameri-can Society of Breast Surgery and the American Society of Breast Disease, as well as a fellow with the American College of Surgery.

Beatty served as Director of Surgical Services at the Charleston Naval Hospital Charleston for three years, and was the chairman of the Breast Health Committee in 2007. Deeply committed to breast research and treat-ment, she serves with the Susan G. Komen Foundation of the Lowcountry, and is an active member of the state Tumor Board.

Dr. Beatty believes one is a better trained and skilled surgeon if they are focused on one thing. Being one of the few designated breast surgeons in the area has al-lowed her to better care for breast patients.

“The breast is compli-cated and breast cancer has changed tremendously. Thanks to research things have changed dramatically with breast patients. It is not as bad to have breast cancer as opposed to in the past. In 10 years, it will be even bet-ter.”

Dr. Beatty treats her pa-tients with as much vigor and enthusiasm as she lives her life. She always says live life to the fullest and celebrate everything. “Life is way too short and you should never give up when someone tells you to. That‘s important,” she said.

Dr. Beatty lives on Seabrook Island with her husband who is in emergency medicine, and their three children are 3 1/2 years old, 2 years old and 2 weeks old.

PHOTOS PROVIDED

Dr. Jennifer Beatty opened The Breast Place in Dec. 2011 to ensure that female patients got the best possible care when dealing with breast cancer issues. She said ninety percent of women live through breast cancer when properly treated.



Patients sought for TDM-1 trialRoper St. Francis Cancer

Care (RSFCC) and Charles-ton Hematology Oncol-ogy Associates (CHOA) announce that patients are now being accepted for par-ticipation in the third phase of national clinical trial study for the breast cancer chemo-therapy drug TDM-1.

“TDM-1 is a very promising new agent for patients with Her-2 positive breast cancer. Its effectiveness has been proven in earlier trials and its approval is expected in the near future,” said David Ellison, MD, Medical Direc-tor Roper St. Francis Cancer Care. Dr. Ellison is the lead investigator in the TDM-1 clinical trials at Charleston Hematology Oncology As-sociates which is located in the Roper St. Francis Cancer Center. “In the interim, this

trial can provide patients ac-cess to this advance in che-motherapy treatment.”

Ellison explained that about 25 percent of breast cancer patients have tumors that generate a protein called HER-2, which tends to make their disease more aggressive. TDM-1 is designed to slow or stop the tumor growth. Cur-rently, CHOA/RSFCC is the only phase three study loca-tion in the Charleston area.

“In the previous TDM-1 trials, patients have traveled from neighboring cities and states in order to partici-pate. One patient continues to come for treatment from the Bahamas,” said Ellison. “However in order for a per-son with breast cancer to participate, the patient must meet very strict criteria and will be screened very close-

ly.” Ellison said that patients

with Her-2 positive meta-static breast cancer who have received previous Taxane (Taxotere, Taxol, or Abrax-ane) and Herceptin therapy may be considered. People who volunteer to receive the drug will be observed to monitor its effects. It is through these trials that in-vestigational new drugs are tested to determine whether they can benefit human be-ings.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, with about 1.4 million new cases diagnosed each year and more than 450,000 women dying of the disease annu-ally, according to the World Health Organization’s Inter-national Agency for Research

on Cancer.What are the potential ben-

efits from participating in a clinical trial?

• The opportunity to be-come involved in the re-search of an investigational drug that would otherwise not be available. (Additional treatment options)

• The possibility of free study medication.

• Contributing to medi-cal science which may help yourself and other patients now and in the future.

Breast Cancer patients interested in participating in the clinical trial should speak with their doctor and can also contact Debbie Mc-Neal, the Clinical Research Manager at CHOA by calling 843-266-2540 or e-mailing her at [email protected].


TYLER [email protected]

Ann Pearson sat on a bench inside the Memorial Water-front Visitor Center in si-lence.

Jamie Hankins, Pearson’s daughter, had submitted a page of facts and comments about why her mother de-served to be included in this special section.

“Oh, she wrote a long one,” Pearson said, taking the nomination in her hand and starting to read it for the first time.

She didn’t know Hankins had done this.

Perhaps she didn’t under-stand what was so significant to warrant a nomination.

Hankins had plenty of in-formation, though, writing about her mother’s courage during chemotherapy and her commitment to helping others.

“When I see my mom and my children together, I know why God spared her life,” Hankins wrote. “She has taught me how to be a good mom, although I will never be as good as she was.”

As Pearson read through her daughter’s nomination, tears formed in her eyes.

She firmed her grip on one arm of the bench, yet her fa-cial expression was relaxed. She sniffled.

“She is the definition of a perfect mother and grand-mother,” the letter reads.

“She fought a long and hard battle with cancer and overcame it. She is here for a reason, and I see that reason everyday of my life.”

Pearson finished and strug-gled to find the right words.

She babysits Hankins’ chil-dren and cares for a 94-year-old woman whom she used to work with almost 50 years ago.

She calls her a “second mom” and refers to herself as the woman’s “bonus child.”

While Pearson appreciates the recognition, it’s clear she’s not seeking it.

So, on the bench after reading her daughter’s fond words, she didn’t know how to react.

“I’m going to cry,” Pearson said.

“(It’s) sweet.”Pearson overcame breast

cancer as the first one in her

family who has ever been di-agnosed. “It’s a death notice, so I had to accept it and deal with it,” she said.

“I went on living; that’s all you can do.”

At the time, Pearson said she “prayed and asked God to help me to come to terms with this and accept the fact that I was not going to live a long life.”

She was 55 years old when she was given the news that 16 of 18 lymph nodes were positive for cancer.

She received eight strong amounts of chemotherapy every three weeks, and after two years, Pearson was told she had beaten breast can-cer.

Thirteen years after her di-agnosis, she remains cancer free.

She said she’s thankful she’s been able to see Han-kins get married and have children.

“They’re just gifts,” Pearson said of her grandchildren. “You have time to spend with them, which you don’t have (as much) with your own children. With grand-children, you have a little bonus.”


‘Perfect mother and grandmother’ beats breast cancer

STAFF PHOTO BY TYLER HEFFERNAN

Ann Pearson has been cancer-free for the past 13 years.


What you need to know: Mammograms 101

October is breast cancer awareness month and yearly mammograms are always on the forefront of many wom-en’s minds this time of year.

Dr. Jon Carmain, director of Women’s Imaging with

Imaging Specialists explains that yearly mammograms are vital for early detection.

He states, “Early detection through mammograms can directly affect prognosis.” Here are some tips to con-

sider before scheduling a mammogram:

Mammograms 1011. Do Your Homework -

Make sure that the facility specializes in mammogram,

and ask about digital mam-mography.

2. Ask for old films - They are important for yearly comparisons. Imaging Spe-cialists will help patients by requesting previous films for them.

3. Check your calendar - Avoid scheduling a mam-mogram the week before a menstrual cycle as this will reduce comfort and may pre-vent clear films.

4. Talk to your Mam-

mographer - Describe any breast symptoms, problems or changes with your mam-mographer before the actual mammogram.

Dr. Carmain also says there is often confusion about mammogram guidelines. He states, “Women over 40 should always have a yearly mammogram. For women in their 20s and 30s, a year-ly clinical breast exam is needed. Women with fam-ily history can be considered

high risk, and they may need to consider a yearly MRI as well as a mammogram.”

Imaging Specialists pro-vides digital mammogra-phy, ultrasounds, MRI with breast coils and MRI guided biopsies on site.

For information, log onto imagingsc.com.

To schedule a mammo-gram, call 881-4020.


Platt buys $1,300 in breast cancer research stamps For the 10th year running,

Eugene Platt has bought more than $1,000 worth of Breast Cancer Research stamps at the James Island Post Office to honor his wife,

Mary, who died of the disease in March 2003. This year, on Monday, Oct. 1, Postal officials welcomed him as he kicked off Breast Cancer Awareness Month with his

annual purchase. Platt’s 2012 purchase was

3,366 of the 55-cent semi-postal stamps ($1,851.30), bringing his all-time total to more than $13,000. The to-

tal number of stamps he has bought over the last decade is 25,406. The Breast Cancer Research stamp, America’s first semipostal stamp, was issued in 1998. The cost in-

cludes First-Class postage and 11 cents (tax deductible) that is donated to research. Currently, the Breast Can-cer Research stamp sells for $0.55; sheets of 20 are $11.



Being the mother of triplet boys has been quite an expe-rience. In addition to raising three boys, Sonya Buchan-non is married to an Isle of Palms City Council member and she’s the owner of Bu-channon Brother’s Retail Showroom.

And being a mother of three is not what she considers her biggest challenge. In fact, “it’s carrying the stress load of the economy as a business owner and trying to not let it get to the home front. “The last few years have been a financial struggle for many people, including our fam-ily,” said Buchannon.

She explained that since she and her husband Ryan work together, and both want to make sure they do not bring the business home.

Ryan has been a tile install-er for over 15 years when they decided to open the retail showroom.

Sonya oversees the resi-dential and commercial sales and with a staff of just two, they are the only female tile showroom team in the area.

They can often be seen driv-ing forklifts full of tile pallets. Sonya describes her team as a jack of all trades.

Sonya explained that being a mother and running a busi-ness can be exhausting.

She has to do a lot of jug-gling.

“I have great staff members who allow me to cut out af-ter school and run the boys to their activities. I have two ladies who run the show for me while I do PTA and school stuff.”

The boys attend Laing Middle School and each has different interests.

This means lots of carpool-ing and volunteering for their various activities.

Sonya is a member of the Laing Middle School PTO, a volunteer with the Mount Pleasant Swim Team, a volun-teer with the Rock Climbing

Team of Charleston booster club and summer president of the Wild Dunes Summer Swim Team League.

When Ryan and Sonya are at home or events with their boys, they do not talk about work unless it is an absolute necessity.

Sonya is a very task orient-ed person and has the keen ability to get the job done and move on.

Sonya and Ryan weren’t expecting to have multiple children.

But they knew it was a pos-sibility as they embarked on the envitro experience at Southeastern Fertility.

Sonya was working at the clinic at the time and after the birth of the triplets, she stayed on there part-time. Sonya quickly realized that raising infant triplets was not conducive to working outside the home.

She made the decision to stay at home with them un-til about five years ago when she and Ryan embarked on their retail operation.

It’s no wonder, when asked who is the woman in her life is that inspires her, Sonya’s answer is, “any woman who can manage a career while being a mom and still man-age to keep it all together while maintaining a posi-tive family life. Any woman like that is an is inspiration to me.”

As with all things in her life

Sonya’s philosophy is to en-joy the moment. “I live by the whole Charleston philoso-phy. We’re fortunate enough to live in such a beautiful area and I just choose to live in the now. I still plan for the future but I enjoy the family and the time we have with each other now. As for the future, we set goals and reach for them.”

Sonya and her husband Ryan are both originally from Michigan. They we met on a blind date and dated for three months before getting engaged. They were married a year later and in May will be celebrating 20 years to-gether.

They lived in Chicago for five years and “I was all done with snow. I wanted to move somewhere that it didn’t snow. Ryan just happened to vacation here in the summer as a child. So he said he knew just the place and we visited. When we drove over the Isle of Palms Connector and I was sold. We moved here in 1997 after he graduated and we’ve never look anywhere else.”

In 10 years Sonya’s boys will be off on their own, probably spread all over the country. And while it would be nice to be retired, Sonya has high hopes for their busi-ness in that they can expand and continue to grow with the East Cooper area.

Her hope for the boys is that they will be able to stay

happy and healthy and be productive citizens. She’s not banking on them staying in South Carolina.

“They have big agendas and the will be all over the place, most likely.


Working mothers can raise successful families

PHOTO PROVIDED

Beck, Ryan, Collin and Ashton Buchannon are Sonya Buchannon’s pride and joy. She and her husband own Buchannon Brothers. She runs the retail show-room in addition to being a mother of triplets and a volunteer for all of their activities.


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