Patrick Dempsey Talks 'Finding Your Purpose'
- “Grey's Anatomy” actor Patrick Dempsey, 57, recently sat down with “Good Morning America” host Robin Roberts to have a discussion about dreams, courage, loss, resilience, and finding your flow, according to The Music Hall.
- For Dempsey, after caring for his late mother Amanda Dempsey during a lengthy ovarian cancer battle, he wanted to make sure patients had a safe and welcoming place to go for the care they needed.
- The Dempsey Center offers patients and their families support through complementary services like group therapy, support groups, educational classes, grief counseling, meditation, yoga and acupuncture, among other offerings.
- The Center has locations in Portland and Lewiston, Maine, and people across the country can also access educational workshops, nutrition classes, movement and fitness classes, and integrative therapy workshops online.
The conversation was held at a charity event titled “Finding Your Purpose with Patrick Dempsey: In Conversation with Robin Roberts,” which took place at The Historic Theater in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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(Photo Credit: @will_zimm_ / Instagram)
Roberts also took to social media to recap their talk, tweeting: “Very special evening last night in Portsmouth.
“Such a wonderful, engaged audience! So much appreciation for @PatrickDempsey and the #DempseyCenter…making a huge impact in the lives of many facing cancer.”
The event, which allowed members of the audience to submit questions for Dempsey to answer following his conversation with Roberts, gave 75 percent of ticket costs to the Demsey Center, which was founded in 2008 by Maine native Dempsey, with the hopes of helping the lives of people with cancer.
Although full footage of the event hasn’t been shown online, a video clip from the outing shared on Instagram by @TheDempseyHub on Instagram showed Demsey saying, “I think things evolve and things change…
“And one thing will lead you to the next thing. I think things change constantly. I look back from where I was at in my 20s and in my 30s, to where I am nowand it kind of builds to this moment but yeah, there’s been a lot of change.”
Meanwhile, another clip from the event, shared by Instagram user @kara.pharma_cpht, revealed Demsey telling an inspirational story about his life and starting work.
“You gotta do something that you wanna do and then find the passion for that,” Demsey said, recounting how he had to work hard to make money because he needed to be an actor.
“I needed to get in there and look at that script, and learn it, and put in the work so that I could continue doing the stuff that I loved doing.”
Very special evening last night in Portsmouth. Such a wonderful, engaged audience! So much appreciation for @PatrickDempsey and the #DempseyCenter…making a huge impact in the lives of many facing cancer.👏🏽 https://t.co/v6D8FcBo98
— Robin Roberts (@RobinRoberts) June 26, 2023
In regards to Demsey’s inspirational words, Roberts described the actor as a “genuine” person who speaks “from the heart.”
According to Dempsey Hub, Roberts was quoted saying, “You see someone like Patrick who is well known and he doesn’t have to come back home. He doesn’t have to do what he’s doing. He can ride off into the sunset on his motorcycle or unicycle or whatever.
“I’ve known him for many years and his passion, it’s true. His passion is true, for this area and for the center. And I just want people to know that. In the event tonight I heard some people walking away and they were like ‘oh my gosh he’s really…he’s just like us.'”
Roberts continued, “It’s true, I want people to know that and to know that it’s genuine. It’s genuine when you hear him speak, talking about the challenge, talking about the center or whatever. It comes from the heart.”
How Being a Caregiver Led To The Dempsey Center
For Patrick Dempsey, after caring for his late mother Amanda Dempsey during a lengthy ovarian cancer battle, he wanted to make sure other patients had a safe and welcoming place to go for the care they needed.
So the actor created the Dempsey Center, where people affected by cancer can find support through complementary services like group therapy, support groups, educational classes, grief counseling, meditation, yoga and acupuncture, among other offerings.
The Maine-based organization opened its first location in 2008, and they now have three locations plus online programming. They are able to provide their resources free of charge due to donations, corporate sponsorships, foundation grants and the Dempsey Challenge an annual biking event.
During a recent event called PHM HealthFront event, Dempsey spoke with SurvivorNet CEO Steve Alperin about his mother's cancer being the catalyst for the founding of The Dempsey Center.
"She was a real fighter," Dempsey said in his conversation with SurvivorNet. "We learned a lot in the process. She had the opportunity to see the center come to life. It was inspired by her journey and she spent a lot of time there."
WATCH: Patrick Dempsey's Advice for Caregivers
Though Dempsey's experience is deeply personal, it is certainly one that resonates with many in the cancer community. And have a space for patients and their loved ones to feel supported and educated is something many people dealing with cancer are in desperate need of.
When people come to his center, one of the first questions they are asked is, "What can we do for you?"
"In the center… we try to simply ask the question, what can we do to help you and support you in your cancer journey?" Dempsey said. "And then listening to them and getting them the information that, hopefully, empowers them and gives them the confidence to go into their treatment emotionally and mentally and physically strong."
He added, “Survivorship is what we're talking about now. So that you're not alone, so that you have someplace to go and to communicate your anxieties and your fears and your hopes and your dreams in a safe and medically proven environment.”
The Motivation Behind Patrick Dempsey's Mission
Patrick Dempsey's mother, Amanda Dempsey, was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1998.
"When my mother was diagnosed in 1998 with ovarian cancer, the feeling was absolute shock," Patrick said. "This is the strongest person in my life. How can she possibly be vulnerable and be sick, and what do I do? What can I do to help her?
“And I don't know anything, and that scares me. And that was the initial, I think, feeling that I had when my mom was diagnosed.”
Amanda had more than 12 recurrences throughout her 17-year battle before passing away from the disease at 79. Patrick's sister was the main caregiver, but he still played a big role in helping his mother during her battle. Especially after he learned about the concept of complementary medicine a term used to denote treatments you receive alongside traditional Western medicine for a more comprehensive mind-body approach.
"My mother could use this type of help," he recalled thinking. "Is there anything in our community that's like this? And when I asked that question, the answer was no. And then we started the center coming from that place."
In Patrick's words, complementary medicine addresses concerns with "the human spirit."
"You have all this wonderful science, right?" he said. "But there also is the humanity and the side that needs the compassion. And that's the type of work that complementary medicine provides. It's not the end all be all, but one element of the team. And that's an important role to have the patient wrapped with as much information and support that they can have moving forward."
RELATED: The Difference Between Integrative Medicine and "Alternative Medicine"
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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