Highlighting the event was a quartet of speakers. Theresa Marchetta of Denver's 7News was a perfect master of ceremonies, smoothly guiding us through the evening. Theresa's sister passed away at age 33 from ovarian cancer. Tara Conner, Miss USA 2006 spoke about her campaign to raise awareness of ovarian cancer through education, research, and legislation. The featured speaker was ovarian cancer survivor Reggie Randall. She shared with the audience her journey through non-diagnosis, diagnosis, surgery, chemotherapy, recovery, and survival. Reggie shares Miss USA's goal to raise awareness of this devastating disease. Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald of The Animal Planet's "Emergency Vets", Alameda East Veterinary Hospital, and The Comedy Works provided a hilarious thirty minutes of entertaining monologue. Shifting gears he served as the auctioneer for the live auction, raising thousands of dollars for future awareness programs.

Ovarian cancer is known as "The Silent Killer" as its symptoms are often misdiagnosed as other illnesses, such as colitis, uterine fibroids, or Irritable Bowel Syndrome. The hope of the Cheryl Shackelford Foundation is that with the increased education of women as well as men and health care providers, early detection of ovarian cancer will save lives

In an effort to support other ovarian cancer groups the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance was in attendance and well-represented by board members and survivors. Both The Cheryl Shackelford Foundation and COCA are 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organizations dedicated to increasing public awareness and educating women in the state of Colorado regarding the symptoms, risk factors and facts about ovarian cancer.

For more information about ovarian cancer visit the following websites:

Cheryl Shackelford Foundation www.csfovarian.org.

Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance www.colo-ovariancancer.org

PHOTO ATTACHED: (left to right) Theresa Marchetta, Tara Conner, Reggie Randall, and Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald