Grace Hightower and Robert De Niro

Jean Shafiroff and Robert De Niro

Muffie Potter Aston and Thomas Mastronardi, communications and marketing expert

Aud Bronson-Howard, film costume designer, and Susan Bloomberg, the mayor’s former wife

Robert De Niro, Grace Hightower and Paula Zahn

Diane Reidy-Lagunes with husband Sergio and children Alec and Keira

Emily Sonnenblick and mother Linda

Emily Sonnenblick and sister Charlotte Van Doren

AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
Everybody Had A Cancer Story
At Mothers Of The Year Luncheon

STORY AND PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER

E

VERYBODY had a cancer story, even Paula Zahn. The host and executive producer of On the Case with Paula Zahn on the Investigation Discovery channel, who served as emcee of the American Cancer Society17th annual Mothers of the Year Awards luncheon at the Plaza in New York, said both her parents were diagnosed with cancer within weeks of each other. Her father succumbed, but her mother is a two-time breast cancer survivor.

Robert De Niro stepped up to the mic with trepidation. He was assigned to present his wife, Grace Hightower, with a Mother of the Year Award.

The two-time Academy Award winner looked up meekly and said, "This is one mother you do not want to mess with. I have to do a good job or else I won’t have any place to sleep tonight."

He took out his glasses, unfolded his notes, and confessed: "Preparing to be Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, gaining and losing weight, and battling and surviving cancer, was nothing like the pressure I had to deal with to make this speech."

On behalf of their two children, Elliot and Helen, Robert praised grace as "Mother of the Year every year – and today she’s yours." You can bet he slept well that night.

Nancy Parenti, who presented the Mother of the Year Award to Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes, told how she lost hope when diagnosed with a rare cancer two years ago. Nancy’s life in Washington went from "fairy tale to nightmare." When she came to New York for treatment by Dr. Diane Reidy-Lagunes at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, her life changed dramatically.

When Dr. Reidy-Lagunes told me the treatment was working I saw how she was more excited than I."

Dr. Reidy-Lagunes, an Assistant Attending in the department of medicine at Memorial Sloan- Kettering, revealed that her husband Sergio suffered a stroke on their 2005 honeymoon in Vietnam. "He’s totally recovered but the image stays with me. I see the terror of my husband’s face in every one of my patients. I dedicate my life today so people can have tomorrow."

Dr. Reidy-Lagunes, who has two children, Alec, 4, and Keira, 2, said her mother’s recipe for success is education and hard work. "It works for me."

Anna Offit presented a Mother of the Year Award to her mother, Dr. Emily Sonnenblick, and was amazed at the loving support Emily gives to her three daughters. "She walked us to school every morning, until we were old enough to beg her not to."

Sometimes it can be difficult shopping with her. "My mom can spot every imperfection on clothing." But it’s this keen observation, Anna added, "that helps her find the smallest of tumors."

Dr. Sonnenblick, who founded Rosetta Radiology, a diagnostic radiation oncology practice on the Upper East Side, emphasized that mammograms have cut the death rate of breast cancer by 40 percent.

With a nod to her husband, Dr. Ken Offit, who heads clinical genetics at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, she said that Mother’s Day comes once a year but every day is Father’s Day.

Shre didn’t stop there. She also paid homage to her mother, Linda Sonnenblick, as well as her three daughters: Anna, a law student; Caroline, a filmmaker and medical student, and Lily, a college freshman.

Among those who applauding the honorees were Muffie Potter Aston, a 2011 Mother of the Year; Susan Bloomberg, ex-wife of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a 2003 MOY; Charlotte Ford, a 2004 MOY; Cynthia Lufkin, a 2008 MOY; Dr. Freya Schnabel, a 2011 MOY.

Also Ce Ce Black, Wendy Carduner, Jean Doumanian, Somers Farkas, Diana Feldman, Caroline Hirsch, Stewart F. Lane, Bonnie Comley Lane, Wendy Mazo, Adam Nashban, Jen Podell, Peggy Siegal, and Allison Stern.

Audy Bronson-Howard, a costume designer for films, felt especially proud as De Niro introduced Grace. Audy designed the clothes for De Niro’s new film, Being Flynn, costarring Julianne Moore, which premiered that day.

"I designed the costume for his role as a homeless man," she told me. "I hope he doesn’t wear the clothes too good, otherwise I’ll be out of a job."

As stars have been known to keep the clothes they wear on the screen, I wondered if De Niro will keep his from this film. Then, again, what will he do with a homeless man’s clothing – strut the red carpet? "I don’t know what happens to the wardrobe I designed," Audy said tactfully.