"Dr. McDreamy" Offers Hope and Healing in Maine

Patrick Galen Dempsey is, after all, a regular human being. 10 years ago his family faced the crushing news that his mother Amanda had been diagnosed with cervical cancer. He tried to grasp at the facts of the long battle ahead for their family as she began treatment at Central Maine Medical Center. He said "For a family to get a cancer diagnosis is devastating and all the information is overwhelming." Today he stood at a podium at the Lewiston Maine hospital and announced the March 31st opening of The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing.

The man smiled at the crowd and joked about being "stitched up" here at CMMC over the years as a boy in the area. He was born in Lewiston Maine in 1966 the youngest of three in an Irish American family. He was quite a character as a boy growing up in Turner and Buckfield. His sister Mary Dempsey has worked at the hospital for years and has been chosen to be the coordinator for the Patrick Dempsey Center. The Center will provide support of all kinds for families, caregivers and cancer patients. There will be resources available to help people better understand the cancer, treatment, insurance and much needed emotional support. Dempsey spoke of how his sister had worked to bring everything together and that he was able to work out his role during the writers strike. He also worked with Breakaway From Cancer, a California based group, during the time that the production for Grey's Anatomy was shut down.

The Center which is meant to honor Amanda Dempsey, will be an integral part of the lives of patients and their families. My family had our lives uprooted when my father was diagnosed with cancer 25 years ago. We entered cancer world, lived hospital life and tried to get by day to day during a month long stay a few hours from home. The words Cancer, Hope and Healing are powerful to me. We had no one to talk to in that world, no understanding of the situation and felt completely lost in a huge hospital where my father changed into a dying patient. The new center in Lewiston will give hope and support. The Dempsey family have taken from their experiences and helped develop a place where others will get real help on many levels.

Dempsey said it was important for him to give back to Maine. He wants the Center to "bring awareness to the community to let them know, we are here for you."

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