Plastic Surgeons Team with Billboard Singing Star Tina Sugandh to Fight Breast Cancer on Pink Runway

Sept. 26, 2010 - PRLog -- It was night of fashion, music, and tears as pop music sensation Tina Sugandh was the emcee for a fundraiser to kick off Breast Cancer Awareness Month last night in Southern California.  The unique event featured a fashion show sponsored by Macy's with all of the models being breast cancer reconstruction patients from the Plastic Surgery Department at Loma Linda University.  The models all strutted the runway in three different outfits and were greeted with a standing ovation as they walked together at the conclusion to “We Are the Champions”.  

Tina Sugandh took a break from promoting her upcoming single, “So Good” featuring Fat Joe to perform two of her songs.  She started with “Snake Charmer” that she wrote in tribute to her mother, Geeta Sugandh's battle with recurrent breast cancer in 2008.  Tina said, “This song has become an anthem in our collective fight against breast cancer”.  The audience jumped in on her second song, “Jao” signifying the message 'Go Away!' cancer.  Tina read statements of advice from all 13 of the breast cancer survivor models that produced another standing ovation from the crowd.

Earlier in the evening, Ruthita Fike, CEO of Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) gave a very personal welcome to the event and Dr Michael Hill from the Loma Linda University Department of Plastic Surgery gave an overview of the team approach to breast cancer and reconstruction used at Loma Linda.  The Pink Runway team was led by Cherl Tidwell who was very excited that the event was sold out.  “We decided to oversell for standing room only seats at the last minute because of the overwhelming demand from our local community.  We are very grateful to  everyone who attended and donated for our cause.”  The two official sponsors for the event were Mentor Corporation, a leading breast implant and aesthetic product manufacturer and Allergan, the makers of Botox Cosmetic, Juvederm, and breast implants.  Over forty local businesses either contributed products for the door prize giveaways or had exhibits in the sponsor exhibit hall.  

Dr Subhas Gupta, Chairman of the Loma Linda University Department of Plastic Surgery, said, “We had established an aggressive target for both attendance and fundraising, and I couldn't be happier that met and exceeded both targets.  I'm also extremely proud of our entire team of volunteers who made this happen by incredibly hard work.  Our Pink Runway team deserves a huge “Thank You!” for their efforts.  This is a our second fashion show and we have already decided that this will be an annual event for our Department.”  The event ended with a check presentation to Dr Mark Reeves who is a cancer surgeon that directs the LLUMC Cancer Institute.  The final total for the fundraiser is expected to be about twenty thousand dollars raised for research in Breast Cancer and Breast Reconstruction.  

The Pink Runway team announced that the date for the 2011 event will be September 24, 2011.  Updates will appear on both their Facebook site, www.facebook.com/thepinkrunway and on their Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/thepinkrunway.

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