Roll Call Tribute

From Houston Chronicle

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Rachel Midgett was 37 when she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, and 42 when she died. 

Breast cancer victim helped many others
By Yang Wang | August 18, 2013 | Updated: August 18, 2013 8:09pm

Rachel Midgett, a Houston breast cancer victim who inspired and supported many other cancer patients, died Wednesday after four years of fighting the disease. She was 42.

Midgett carried out several missions that some healthy people couldn't easily achieve, until cancer stripped away her last bit of energy, friends and relatives said.

"Never wait for tomorrow to do something. That's how she approached her life," said Midgett's husband, Clint.

Friends said she had boundless impact on other patients.After her diagnosis, she ran half marathons in Houston, San Antonio and Las Vegas. She and her husband raised more than $160,000 for the Pink Ribbons Project, a Houston-based nonprofit that raises awareness about breast cancer. Midgett and her husband also founded a nonprofit organization called Suites of Hope, which provides housing for breast cancer patients traveling long distance to MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Condo for others

Living five minutes away from MD Anderson, Midgett, a pharmaceutical representative, bought a condo for long-distance patients. She was struck by the fact that cancer patients from all over the world had to stay weeks in hotels.

After spending her own money for the down payment, Midgett worked on getting grants for the project, eventually establishing the non-profit organization.

The project has supported at least five out-of-state patients through their treatment.

"They had no kitchen, no access to healthy meals," said Loubel Galik, the former executive director of the Pink Ribbons Project. "Rachel made sure she made a difference."

Midgett found the lump in her left breast in 2009, right before she was scheduled to undergo in vitro fertilization in hopes of conceiving a child.

After her mascectomy, she learned the cancer had spread to her liver and was given two years to live.

"Just a few months prior, I was wondering if we would have a family. Now, I was wondering if I'd live to see my 40th birthday," she wrote in her blog, "Memoirs of a Metastatic Midgett."

'Each day is a gift'

Throughout her battle, Midgett supported cancer research by actively participating in clinical trials.

"All she was doing was moving people toward finding a cure, even though she knows well in her heart it probably wasn't going to benefit her," said her husband, an avid hunter who was inspired to create a skeet-shoot event for Pink Ribbons, called Pink Pigeons. The event raised $55,000 in 2011 and $106,000 in 2012 - making it Pink Ribbons' most successful fundraising event.

Family and friends remember Midgett as a compassionate person, no matter how bad her own situation was.

During one of her last clinical trials, Midgett, concerned for her doctor's health, asked why the doctor looked unwell.

"She always cares for people in the direct, loving way," her husband said.

On the blog Midgett wrote to encourage other patients and promote cancer research, she said: "I've learned to enjoy life day by day. Each day is a gift."