Lights of Love honors cancer patients at annual ceremony Monday | VIDEO

ALBANY — In chilly temperatures on Monday evening, the annual Lights of Love ceremony was held outside the Phoebe Cancer Center in honor of the cancer patients and survivors living in Southwest Georgia.

Mobile users can view the Lights of Love video here.

The event, a collaboration of the Junior Woman’s Club of Albany and Phoebe Foundation, celebrated its 31st year outside the Phoebe Cancer Center. Officials representing the hospital as well as the Phoebe Foundation thanked the individuals who gave to make the campaign successful, raising more than $61,000.

Among those was Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steve Kitchen, who was filling in for Phoebe CEO Joel Wernick, who was unable to attend due recent surgery.

“(The support) has been instrumental in the Phoebe Cancer Center becoming a center of excellence,” Kitchen said. “Lights of Love has a rich and storied history. More than $1 million in donations have been used (for cancer patients).

“This is a home away from home for cancer patients.”

This year’s donations topped $61,000, said Casey Moore, Lights of Love chair and Junior Woman’s Club of Albany president. This year’s donations are earmarked for the purchase of a three-dimensional mammography unit, which officials say can offer up to 29 percent improvement in cancer detection and a 15 percent decrease in callbacks.

“It brings the best to all the citizens of Albany,” Kitchen said.

The program included performances of “Silent Night” and “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” by Ronnie Morrell and Amy Bowles, as well as the traditional candle lighting and tree lighting.

The ceremonial treelighter, breast cancer survivor Jack Morrell, used the platform on Monday to thank his family, friends and medical team for the care he received following his diagnosis last year.

“Brick and mortar can do nothing. It can do nothing but stand there,” he said. “(It’s the) very special people inside those walls that come to work here every day and every night that make Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital the greatest asset in Southwest Georgia.

“It’s always the people. It’s always the people. It’s always the people from Joel Wernick down to the lowest paid worker and the doctors, nurses, technicians and professional people in between that make Phoebe great.”

Specifically, he was complimentary of Dr. Chirag Jani, the oncologist who handled his care, and radiation oncologist Dr. Chuck Mendenhall, and their staffs for their treatment during his process.

“It almost made my chemotherapy fun … no really,” Morrell said of his experience with Jani. “Dr. Jani really is world acclaimed, and that’s the truth. He’s not just nationally acclaimed, he is world acclaimed, and he is my buddy.”

After finding Jani seated behind him, he quipped to the doctor: “If anybody messes with you, you call me. I have people.”

After giving props to Mendenhall, he then thanked his wife and two daughters for their support and said: “I hope you understand why I say that Phoebe is my hospital, and I love my Phoebe.”

The tree was lit as Dr. Robert Krywicki, medical director of the oncology service line at the Phoebe Cancer Center, noted some recent figures including the 2,000 diagnostic mammograms at the Carlton Breast Health Center, the 51,00 patient visits to the cancer center in the last year and the 100 patients currently in research protocols as well as the 400 screenings and 12 cancers found through the recently-implemented Lung Watch program.

“It’s been a great honor to be here at this cancer center,” he said.