Horses and Hope, charity partner for 2023 Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade, hosts racetrack clinic director Dedra Hayden as special ambassador
May 4, 2023Horses and Hope will be on the national stage once again as a charity partner for the Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade May 5 at Churchill Downs, and will receive a generous donation.
Dedra Hayden, UofL associate professor of nursing, director of the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center and cancer survivor is the Horses and Hope special ambassador at the Kentucky Oaks, and will walk in the parade as a volunteer. Hayden is an advocate for racetrack workers and the lifesaving cancer screenings provided through UofL Health by Horses and Hope.
Horses and Hope is a project of the Kentucky Cancer Program to increase cancer education, screening and treatment referral among Kentucky’s horse industry population and other groups. Screenings and events are held across the state in collaboration with the Horses and Hope Cancer Screening Van operated by the UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center. For more information, call 1-877-326-1134 or visit horsesandhope.org.
The Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade celebrates breast and ovarian cancer survivors and encourages those still fighting cancer as they march on Churchill Downs’ historic racetrack prior to the running of the Longines Kentucky Oaks. The 2023 Survivors Parade will honor 149 survivors and fighters.
Learn more about Dedra Hayden's work at the Kentucky Racing Health Services Center.
Betty Coffman is a communications coordinator focused on research and innovation at UofL. A UofL alumna and Louisville native, she served as a writer and editor for local and national publications and as an account services coordinator and copywriter for marketing and design firms prior to joining UofL’s Office of Communications and Marketing.