When Sherie Hildreth was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2004, she was determined to fight. Not only for herself, but for all women facing ovarian cancer.  

Her efforts began when she lost her hair to chemotherapy. All winter her head was cold, so Sherie and a friend created a fleece hat decorated with strands of dangling beads. They soon established a business selling these hats, and wanted the proceeds to support ovarian cancer research and awareness. They founded the Sherie Hildreth Ovarian Cancer (SHOC) Foundation in 2005. 

The SHOC Foundation works to increase awareness and to support survivors of ovarian cancer in the greater Portland, Oregon area. Its signature fundraising event is the annual SHOC run and walk, which raised more than $50,000 for research this year. 

Sherie passed away in 2009 after a recurrence of her cancer, but the SHOC Foundation is still going strong. To date, SHOC has donated $900,000 to OHSU's lab which specializes in gynecologic cancer. 

"Sherie was very forward-thinking and noble and engaged," Dr. Tanja Pejovic, gynecologic oncologist and ovarian cancer researcher at OHSU has said. "She was thinking beyond herself."