Kensley Shrader gets her hair styled before the show.
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Kensley Shrader gets her hair styled before the show.
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Grayson Wade gets ready to take his turn on the catwalk.
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Grayson Wade gets ready to take his turn on the catwalk.
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Landon Allen plays backstage with community champion Frank Tsuru.
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Landon Allen plays backstage with community champion Frank Tsuru.
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Riley Buckalew is all smiles before the big show.
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Riley Buckalew is all smiles before the big show.
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Max Boatwright and community champion Elsa, Texas Children’s facility dog, enjoy some fun backstage.
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Max Boatwright and community champion Elsa, Texas Children’s facility dog, enjoy some fun backstage.
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Jada Davis shows off her outfit for the runway.
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Jada Davis shows off her outfit for the runway.
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Landon Allen gets ready for the show.
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Landon Allen gets ready for the show.
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Meagan Wilkerson and Willow Kreitz get their makeup done.
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Meagan Wilkerson and Willow Kreitz get their makeup done.
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Rylie York is made up before the show.
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Rylie York is made up before the show.
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Meghan Rudd has her makeup done.
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Meghan Rudd has her makeup done.
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Community champion Dr. Susan Blaney with patient champion Leroy Baker.
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Community champion Dr. Susan Blaney with patient champion Leroy Baker.
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Patient champion Max Boatwright high-fives the crowd as he takes the runway with community champions Sarah Herbek and Texas Children’s facility dog Elsa.
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Patient champion Max Boatwright high-fives the crowd as he takes the runway with community champions Sarah Herbek and Texas Children’s facility dog Elsa.
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Patient champions Kensley Shrader and Willow Kreitz with community champions Sippi and Ajay Khurana.
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Patient champions Kensley Shrader and Willow Kreitz with community champions Sippi and Ajay Khurana.
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Community champions Glenda and Russell Gordy with patient champion Meagan Wilkerson.
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Community champions Glenda and Russell Gordy with patient champion Meagan Wilkerson.
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Community champions Shawntell and Keith McWilliams with patient champion Raenice Dunbar.
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Community champions Shawntell and Keith McWilliams with patient champion Raenice Dunbar.
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Community champions Ann and John Bookout with patient champion Grayson Wade.
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Community champions Ann and John Bookout with patient champion Grayson Wade.
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Community champions Stephanie and Ernie Cockrell with patient champion Avaya Hernandez.
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Community champions Stephanie and Ernie Cockrell with patient champion Avaya Hernandez.
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Patient champion Remy Koks with community champions Brigitte and Bashar Kalai.
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Patient champion Remy Koks with community champions Brigitte and Bashar Kalai.
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Community champion Stephanie Tsuru with patient champion Jada Davis.
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Community champion Stephanie Tsuru with patient champion Jada Davis.
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Community champions Carol and Phil Garner with patient champion Hayes Rhee.
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Community champions Carol and Phil Garner with patient champion Hayes Rhee.
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Community champions Rini and Edward Ziegler with patient champion Meghan Rudd.
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Community champions Rini and Edward Ziegler with patient champion Meghan Rudd.
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Community champion Dave Ward with patient champion Rylie York.
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Community champion Dave Ward with patient champion Rylie York.
It was a heart-warming scene at River Oaks Country Club last week when smartly dressed pediatric cancer survivors, from toddlers to teens, and philanthropic Houstonians—deemed patient champions and community champions, respectively—walked down a runway, hand-in-hand, to thunderous applause.
The occasion was Texas Children’s Cancer Center’s 11th annual Celebration of Champions Fashion Show and Luncheon, chaired this year by Sidney Faust, Judi McGee, Elsie Eckert, and Scott Basinger. More than 375 guests gathered for the show that featured 13 pediatric cancer survivors from Texas Children’s paired with 25 notable Houstonians engaged in the fight to end childhood cancer, all dressed in this season’s looks from Saks Fifth Avenue and Dillard’s.
In true model form, children had their hair and makeup done before the show, and their pride was on full display as they strutted down the catwalk, some striking a pose or—in one case—busting a move (specifically, the so-called Backpack Kid’s signature dance, The Floss) to a raucous reaction. One patient-turned-model, Rylie York, now a freshman studying journalism at Baylor, also gave the invocation.
It was a celebratory (and celebrity) moment for the kids who have already endured so much in their short lives, as event emcee, FOX 26 Morning News co-anchor Melissa Wilson, emphasized. Wilson took her own turn on the runway years ago as a former community champion; in tragic irony, her own son was diagnosed with pediatric cancer just before that event.
This year’s show raised more than $390,000 for the hospital’s unique Long-Term Survivor Program, which monitors pediatric patients into adulthood for delayed side effects and complications caused by previous cancer therapies. Guests also donated to help patient families and caregivers with one simple expense that, Wilson attested, can quickly accumulate throughout the long, arduous course of treatment: hospital parking.
To date, the Celebration of Champions shows have raised more than $3 million for Texas Children’s.
Abby Ledoux traded Canada’s border for Mexico’s when she moved to Texas from northwestern Vermont in November 2017 to join the staff at Houstonia.
An alumna of Emerson College’s journalism program in Boston, Abby was previously associate editor of three weekly newspapers in her home state of Vermont. There, she covered everything from Bernie Sanders to the heroin epidemic and won numerous state and regional awards for her work, including the Vermont Press Association’s 2014 Rookie of the Year. She was also an investigative reporting fellow at the New England First Amendment Coalition.
Today, Abby is excited to explore Houston’s vibrant, diverse culture (and shopping scene). Aside from fashion and design, she’s passionate about politics, hip hop and Mexican food. She believes leopard is a neutral and red lipstick can fix almost anything.
