Payton Baggett Reporting
news@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Though artist Tina Brown is known locally for her musical talent as the lead singer of the band named after her, she also wants to be recognized as something equally as important – a breast cancer survivor.
In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Brown will be teaming up with The Lodge Sports Pub to host a fundraiser benefiting the American Cancer Society the night of October 5. Doors will open at 8 p.m., with Tina Brown Band performing at 10 p.m. All ladies will get in free until midnight, and there will be a cover charge of $5. Attendees can buy Tina Brown Band CDs and pink ribbons at the event. A percentage of those sales, as well as the money from the night’s raffle will be given directly to Jerri Rule, the Community Representative for the Mid-South Division of the American Cancer Society.
Brown said that she is planning the fundraiser to give back to the community that has supported her during her career, and to empower others who are experiencing the same disease that she battled over a decade ago.
At the time she was diagnosed, Tina’s son, Willie Brown, was a sophomore at Northwest High School, and the starting quarterback for the football team. Brown had raised her son and younger daughter as a single parent, and the news was particularly hard for the family. “At the time I was going through it, I was playing on Beale Street in Memphis, so it was really the highlight of my career,” she said. “I was doing blues festivals, I found out I had cancer, and it kind of put me in a rut for a while.”.
To get through the uncertainty of the cancer, Brown said she “ just didn’t think about it” and continued to focus on her singing and her children. One of the ways she did that was to encourage her son in his first football game that year, saying “I told him that my heart would be there with him.” Brown had to miss the game to undergo surgery that removed cancer the size of an orange, as well as nine lymph nodes. In an inspiring turn of events, Brown’s doctors were able to extract all of the cancer, and her son helped Northwest to win the big game.
Now Tina Brown wants to inspire others with her story, and let women know that they shouldn’t be afraid to schedule regular mammograms and doctor visits to screen for breast cancer. Her advice for those fighting cancer: “No matter what, as long as you have a strong faith base or religion, and something positive to do, and something to look forward to, that will help.”
Continuing its support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Tina Brown Band will be performing the morning of November 2 at the Nashville Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Registration for the walk begins at 7:30 a.m. at L.P. Field.
For more information on the walk, visit www.MakingStridesNashville.org.