Actor Patrick Dempsey - Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd of the TV show "Grey's Anatomy" paid it forward in Maine recently.
Patrick Dempsey smiles during a press conference promoting US film director Kevin Lima's latest movie 'Enchanted' in Tokyo, Japan, 03 March 2008. The Walt Disney Pictures production will be screened in Japan from 14 March. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Dempsey came to Lewiston, Maine to launch The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Healing.
Local Portland NBC affiliate WCSH reports that the center is designed to help cancer patients and their families get free information and support both online and at the hospital.
The Center also will offer programs like massage therapy and yoga that are clinically proven to help cancer patients heal. Staff will be traveling to more rural areas to bring services to patients who may not be able to come to Lewiston.
For Dempsey it is personal mission, as his mother, Amanda, has been successfully treated for ovarian cancer at CMMC three times. His sister, Mary, also works there.
Dempsey told WCSH, "I think that it's very important for anybody going through cancer treatment today is just to have a person there, so you're not being treated like a number and that's what we're trying to achieve."
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