Wright: There's life beyond cancer'

By By Penny Randall / staff writer
October 29, 2004
Daisy Moulds of Meridian visited Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center on Thursday in hopes of learning how she could help her friend who recently had been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Moulds was one of about 40 women who attended the "Lunch and Learn" program to mark October's designation as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The guest speaker was Penny Wright, a pediatric nurse practitioner and an instructor at the University of Alabama School of Nursing in Birmingham. Moulds said Wright was "so inspiring and such an exuberant speaker I just loved it."
Wright is a motivational speaker and breast cancer survivor. She was diagnosed in January 2000 at age 57 with cancer. Her diagnosis was followed by chemotherapy, surgery and radiation.
Ann Weddington, a spokesperson with Jeff Anderson Regional Medical Center, was the coordinator of the event. She said the hospital "is excited to be able to offer these types of events to the community."
Last year, Wright climbed Mount Kilimanjaro along with four friends, three of whom also were cancer survivors. Her journey was the subject of her speech.
The climb took the group nearly six days to complete. On the third day, two of the women had to return back down the mountain because of altitude sickness. The other three women continued to climb.
On the fifth day, Wright became so ill with altitude sickness that she could not walk and was forced to remain at the camp less than 1,000 feet from the summit.