HC Health Care Foundation’s “Celebrate ‘the girls’” Champions Breast Cancer
October 22, 2025 – Sulphur Springs, Texas – The Foundation’s breast health party, affectionately titled “Celebrate ‘the girls’”, was an incredible evening of laughter, friendship, and breast health education for the public! Women from all walks of life united in the spirit of wellness and community, with the ladies of the Hopkins County Breast Cancer Support Group serving as hosts.
The event is expected to become an annual tradition during Breast Cancer Awareness Month,
spotlighting prevention and demonstrating through survivors that there is life beyond a cancer
diagnosis.
Attendees learned how to identify breast lumps by touch and perform self-exams using a prosthetic breast model. Johanna Hicks, a breast cancer survivor and support group member, led the demonstration and shared her diagnosis story with the crowd.
Stefany Walton, mammogram technician at the Ruth and Jack Gillis Women’s Center, guided partygoers through a virtual tour of the spa-like facility, describing the steps of getting a mammogram and showing the advanced imaging equipment used. She emphasized that individuals who undergo preventative screenings and detect cancer early have a 99% survival rate.
Kristi Brewer, chair of the Hopkins County Breast Cancer Support Group, co-led the program and kept energy levels high with fun, feminine door prizes throughout the night. Kristi and her mother-in-law, Jo Beth Brewer, were instrumental in the Foundation starting the support group, which celebrates its first anniversary this November. Meetings are held at 5:30 p.m. on the second Monday of every month at the Medical Plaza, 113 Airport Rd.
The Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that has expanded local healthcare
initiatives in Hopkins County since 1997. The Foundation offers free programs, educational
resources, and clinics while also funding equipment, construction, and programs for the local nonprofit hospital
CHRISTUS Mother Frances – Sulphur Springs and State special district the Hopkins County
Hospital District. For more information, follow the Foundation on social media, email
[email protected], or call 903-438-4799.
Photo 1: Pink boas fashionably set the members of the Hopkins County Breast Cancer Support
Group apart from partygoers. The Hopkins County Breast Cancer Support Group meets the
second Monday of every month at 5:30 p.m. in the Medical Plaza, 113 Airport Rd. Group chair,
Kristi Brewer, helps organize and welcomes women who have or have had cancer of any kind.
Photo 2: In a powerful moment, a majority of the room raised their hands when support group member Vickie Pickel asked all breast cancer survivors whose cancer was detected through a mammogram to identify themselves—highlighting the life-saving impact of preventative screenings.
Photo 3: Johanna Hicks (left) used a prosthetic breast model to teach ladies how to perform self-exams and how to identify lumps by touch. Sarah England (right) listens to instructions while feeling for lumps within the model.
Photo 4: Guests enjoyed delicious refreshments provided by Carolyn McKinney and Kim Sellers at the Hopkins County Health Care Foundation’s breast health awareness event.
Photo 5: Team members from Brian Toliver Ford Lincoln posed for a fun group photo at the Foundation’s event backdrop. Pictured left to right are Natalie Hightower, Kimberly Miller, Laura Nunez, Missy Overly, Lou Box, and Christian Dicus.
