Walk of Hope remembers city attorney Walk of Hope remembers Oklahoma city attorney
By Andrew Knittle
Published: September 14, 2008
Cancer is an indiscriminate killer.
It doesn't care if you're a three-time felon or a candidate for sainthood.
And cancer came for Laura Cross, an early proponent of hospice care and a prominent Oklahoma City health care attorney.
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With a career that spanned five decades and two professions, Cross touched the lives of many in the state as she fought for better treatment for the dying, both as a nurse and a lawyer.
But after more than four years of fighting and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, Cross succumbed to ovarian cancer Aug. 16 at her Edmond home. She was 63.
Along with numerous other victims of gynecological cancers, Cross was honored Saturday at the fourth annual Walk of Hope, an event she helped to create after she was diagnosed with cancer in 2004.
Despite ominous cloudsand light rain, more than 200 people showed up at the Oklahoma Bar Association to honor survivors and those who lost their lives to cancer, releasing yellow, blue and white balloons into the gray sky on the Capitol steps as a tribute.
The Walk of Hope has been put on each year since 2005 by Hope in Oklahoma, a gynecological cancer support group that serves to educate women while also providing assistance to its members as they fight cancer.
Anne Pederson, president of Hope in Oklahoma, spoke to participants following the Walk of Hope, calling Cross "our friend, our nurse and our advocate.”
As a mentor, educator, advocate and defender, Cross' contributions to Oklahoma's legal and nursing professions were both far-reaching and enduring.
Linda Edmondson, wife of Attorney General Drew Edmondson and a former social worker, collaborated with Cross for more than 20 years on end-of-life issues in the state.
A sought-after adviser to government officials on the subject of end-of-life issues, Cross also founded the Oklahoma Association of Healthcare Ethics in 1995 and sat on a number of boards relating to health care, nursing and end-of-life issues, Edmondson said.
Cross also devoted time to representing nurses before the Board of Nursing in disciplinary matters.
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know it: Cancer: Go to NewsOK.com/cancer for information and resources to learn more about cancer and deal with the illness. Laura Cross shared her story of her fight with ovarian cancer on the site earlier this year.
Online at NewsOK.com: Watch a video from the Walk of Hope and hear about how Laura Cross made an impact.
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