101325...R PINK RIBBON 9...Canfield...10-13-25...Maureen Collins of Youngstown, co-founder of Easy Street Productions in Youngstown, provides the entertainment during the annual Junior League of Mahoning Valley Pink Ribbon Tea Monday...by R. Michael Semple

CANFIELD — “The first thing we do after birth is inspire. The last thing we do on Earth is expire.”

The in between, local cardiologist Dr. Paul Wright said, is for everyone to “seek and search for experiences that take your breath away.”

That was his message Monday before a crowd of about 500 during the 31st annual Pink Ribbon Tea for Breast Cancer Survivors, held at Waypoint 4180.

The event, sponsored by The Junior League of the Mahoning Valley, aims to lift up those who are fighting or have recovered from breast cancer.

Dr. Wright, a 1972 Notre Dame graduate, grew up in Steubenville and lives in Vienna. He moved to the area in 1976 and practiced cardiology here for 35 years.

Though he is retired from practice, he continues to lecture at Notre Dame on medical ethics and authored “Mother Teresa’s Prescription for Inner Peace and Happiness in Service.”

The purpose of life — a question the doctor said he wrestled with — had been top of mind as long as he could remember.

He found out Mother Teresa, a saint born in Macedonia in 1910, was hospitalized in Tijuana, Mexico, and said he flew to San Diego in 1992, rented a car and drove across the border to try and meet her.

“I called [the hospital] every day for a week,” he said, explaining he was told she wasn’t accepting visitors.

That didn’t stop him, and when he did get to meet her, he asked how he could come to know the meaning of life.

She pointed to Matthew 25, a chapter from the Bible that explores topics of being faithful, spiritually prepared and of service to others.

Dr. Wright, who eventually became one of the saint’s cardiologists when she was in the U.S., said he tried to apply her teachings to his practice and encourage his patients.

“She was incredible,” he said, explaining he worked with her from 1993 until her death in 1997 from congestive heart failure.

Serving others enriched his life, and Dr. Wright encouraged the crowd to find ways to foster and sustain inner peace and happiness, even in the face of a later-stage diagnosis.

Entertainment for the afternoon was provided by Maureen Collins, who has spent 40 years entertaining the valley with Easy Street Productions.

She sang “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and said breast cancer, a “horrible, dreaded disease,” affected everyone in the room, but that “looking around this room gives me hope.”

Seeing so many people walking a similar path was inspiring for Karen Billey, of Niles, who found out in 2013 she had a very rare type of breast cancer — triple negative invasive adenosquamous carcinoma.

Because of that rarity, Billey was treated at UPMC in Pittsburgh, where she underwent a partial mastectomy and radiation.

She cared for both her parents during their cancer battles and said her faith carried her through.

“God gave me peace through that whole journey with breast cancer,” she said.

Ursuline Sister Maria Maravola, of Canfield, a 10-year breast cancer survivor, found a lump while doing a self-exam and said she knew what to look for because she worked for an X-ray technician when she was 21.

She had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and oral chemotherapy, and said she leaned on God to overcome her fear.

“My faith played a big role,” she said, adding she was happy to be in the presence of so many inspiring people. “It’s an amazing journey.”

Sisters Serecia Underwood, 83, of Boardman, and Marnette Nelson, 75, of Campbell, were both diagnosed in 2022.

“God got us through,” Underwood said. “God has preserved everybody in here.”

Carol Detwiler Apinis, president of the board of directors for Yellow Brick Place Cancer Support Center, said she found a lump in 1998 but was told she was fine after having a mammogram.

Her stage III diagnosis came the following year, followed by a mastectomy, chemotherapy, a stem cell transplant and radiation.

Though she’s not considered “cured,” she’s free of active cancer and encouraged the group, saying, “we are not a statistic — we are survivors.”

Trina Christopher, 50, of McDonald, was diagnosed four years ago and said the afternoon was filled with heartfelt sentiments.

“It’s really good to see the women who are 5, 10, 15, 20-plus years out as survivors,” she said.

Dr. Wright challenged the crowd to find ways to deal with the psychological and spiritual impacts of the disease.

He said we are meant to “enrich ourselves with the most powerful force on Earth — love,” and that everything else is “just “BS” a sentiment that drew much laughter.

“The purpose is to love,” he continued. “Stay as close to the people you love as possible.”