BY DEBBIE PAGE
Iredell Health Foundation Board member Kim Saragoni welcomed attendees to the organization’s 4th Annual International Women’s Day Breakfast, sponsored by Iredell Health System and Randy Marion, on Wednesday morning.
This inspirational event benefits the Iredell Health Foundation’s Women’s Health Fund, which provides support to qualifying women who cannot afford health and preventative services.
Saragoni urged the attendees to connect and celebrate the impact that women who heal, inspire and uplift make in the community every day before she introduced emcee Molly Grantham, a wife and mom of three who started the “Bet on Yourself” organization after a long career as an Emmy-winning TV journalist.
Grantham, noting the heavy mental load that women carry with family and career responsibilities, urged the audience to take this time to recharge and get inspired to follow their hearts and dreams.
Citing her own career pivot, she advised, “Go do it! There are lots of lives you can live in one life.”
Uplift Women of the Year Award
Callie Farmer received the Uplift Woman of the Year recognition. She lived with type 1 diabetes from childhood, leading to a life-altering challenge in 2023 when she required a kidney and pancreas transplant.
Her experiences inspired her to embrace life with determination, channeling her experience into a career in healthcare and a deep empathy for those with challenging medical conditions.
While many would have focused on their personal recovery after a double transplant procedure, Farmer instead saw a chance to serve when Hurricane Helene devastated Western North Carolina.
A week of volunteering turned into a massive year-long relief effort, with Farmer coordinating airlifts of essential supplies and truckloads of donations to help families survive over the next year.
Grantham said Farmer’s life demonstrated “unwavering strength and boundless compassion,” and her “tireless efforts have restored hope to countless families and inspired an entire community.”
In accepting the honor, Farmer shared her motto of having “grit and grace,” instilled in her by her mother and the incredible female role models that she grew up around.
“It’s important as women to surround ourselves with strong women. Through them I have opened doors and built relationships. So many great women are giving back to the community,” Farmer said.
After thanking the foundation for this “precious honor,” Farmer shared her belief that the future of leadership should center around heart, not just brain and muscle.
‘No one is promised tomorrow’
Leslie Mouton, a TV news anchor and 26-year breast cancer survivor, was the keynote speaker for the event.
As a 35 year-old wife and mother of a 2-year-old daughter at the time of her diagnosis, Mouton made international news when she documented her breast cancer treatment journey on air, sharing her fears, surgery, chemo, struggles with hair loss and identity, and self-discovery throughout the process.
Mouton said she trusted that God had a purpose of saving lives through her experience: to share her cancer journey with her TV audience so that other women would be encouraged to catch cancer early by performing monthly self-checks and getting cancer screenings and mammograms.
While struggling with hair loss after chemo, Mouton took her fate in her own hands by shaving her head, with her husband joining her in solidarity. Losing her hair, a large part of every women’s self-image, forced her to discover that her heart and character are really her true identity.
“Any hair day is now a good hair day,” Mouton joked.
She believes cancer is harder on families in some ways because it’s an enemy they cannot fight for the patient. Even Mouton’s two-year-old daughter picked up on her struggle, praying at dinner one night to bless the food and “mommy’s booby.”
Mouton was then forced into the hard conversation of talking about cancer with her young child. Afterwards, the girl hugged Mouton tightly and confidently said, “God will take care of it.”
After initially using a wig on air, Mouton decided to anchor her broadcast without it to empower women undergoing cancer treatment and show that they are still the same beautiful people with or without their hair. Afterwards, the studio audience response repeated, “Leslie is so beautiful.”
Mouton’s story spread across the world, allowing her to take a horrible diagnosis to touch others’ lives and spread the importance of early detection, self-exams, and annual mammograms at all ages.
After she was declared cancer-free, Mouton experienced survivor’s guilt until she met a woman dealing with her third breast cancer recurrence, which was at stage four, She had decided to stop treatment.
The woman told Mouton that just because she had a good prognosis did not mean that Mouton would outlive her because no one is promised tomorrow. She told Mouton, “We don’t control how we die; we control how we live.”
Mouton urged audience members to not waste their lives with fear.
“Tomorrow is a mystery; today is a gift. How are we celebrating life today and making the most out of the moments we have?” she said. “God wants to know how you lived, not how you died.”
Mouton advised women to be proactive about their health. “Don’t you want to know when it’s still treatable or do you want to wait until it’s too late?” she asked.
“Don’t put off your mammograms. Empower yourself by taking care of yourself.”
Mouton asked attendees to take away two messages. “Early detection is key. Make and keep your mammogram appointment. Don’t be afraid. Secondly, unwrap and embrace the present of life.”
To encourage screening, Iredell Health System had a station for women to make mammogram appointments at the event.
‘Heart-centered leadership
The Women in Medicine Speaker Becky Wagner, vice president of Iredell Health System Nursing and Patient Services, shared the changes over her 44-year career, from the crisp white uniforms and sensible shoes, glass IV bottles, and paper records to the high-tech, personalized care of today.
Wagner was inspired to enter the medical field after a congenital kidney issue led to surgery and extensive treatment in her childhood. She saw the possibilities and opportunities of a medical career and seized them to grow both personally and professionally, rising from nursing to interim hospital CEO over the course of her journey.
Wagner credited her mother, who fought a two-year battle with multiple myeloma, with teaching her to lead with heart and grace. During treatment, her mother focused on helping other patients and listening to them with empathy rather than worrying about her own cancer.
“She shared her heart and passion and taught us to love others where they are.”
“The future of leadership is heart-centered,” said Wagner, “and women are defining what strong leadership looks like.
“Empathy is strength. Authenticity brings trust, and courage changes systems,” she added.
Mission Driven Women
The event also honored a group of 12 mission-driven women leading local nonprofits who represent a powerful network of leadership, compassion, and proven problem-solving that is reshaping life in Iredell County.
Each stands at the head of a vital organization that helps neighbors at their most vulnerable times and offers practical help, dignity, and hope. They touch nearly every corner of community need, including healthcare, housing, hunger, early childhood, parenting, and crisis response.
Their shared commitment, expressed through their varying missions, is united by the common thread of ensuring that everyone in Iredell County is seen, valued, and given the opportunity for a more hopeful future.
Among those honored were Amy DeCaron, executive director of Hope of Mooresville; Amy LaCount, executive director of the Mooresville Christian Mission; Angela Kline, executive director of FeedNC; Angela McMillan, executive director of HealthReach Community Clinic; Anne Mautner, founder and executive director of the Kindness Closet; Beth McKeithan, executive director of the Dove House; Jessica Lemons, executive director of Piedmont Mediation Center; Karen Kidd, founder and executive director of Foundation of Hope Ministries; Leigh Ann Darty, director of Rainbow Kidz; Lisa Familio, executive director of Iredell County Partnership for Young Children; Tamara Roach, executive director of Fifth Street Ministries; and Tonya Fowler, executive director of Pharos Parenting.