Kandice Rose

Founder, Pretty Girls with Cancer

Kandice Rose was born and raised in Houston, and is the youngest child of Larry and Roslyn Rose. She has two sisters and one brother. She attended Langham Creek High school in Cy-Fair where she enjoyed playing sports. By the time Rose went to college at Huston –Tillotson University in Austin, she was already a two-time cancer survivor. Rose was 14 years old when she was diagnosed with Lymphoma Hodgkin’s (8 months after her grandmother passed from Non- Hodgkin’s). Her junior year she relapsed and was diagnosed with leukemia and needed a lifesaving bone marrow transplant. Rose’s sister was a perfect match and she received a transplant at Texas Children’s Hospital. After staying in the hospital for two months, she continued to attend high school and went to Huston-Tillotson University.

In college, Rose was chosen to be Mistress of Ceremonies for the American Cancer Society Walk in 2003 and lead cancer patients and survivors to the first walk around the track. In 2004, the Austin Statesmen Newspaper named her “Mover and Shaker” for the fight against HIV/AIDS in the African-American community. In 2005, her only brother lost his long battle with sarcoma cancer. After graduation, Rose returned back to Houston and started working for Mothers Against Drunk Driving as a victim advocate helping families who’ve lost loved ones to drinking and driving. Rose also volunteers with Saving Our Community Kids and Senior (S.O.C.K.S.) providing HIV testing and promoting prevention in Houston and surrounding areas. Rose was chosen to attend the White House for President Obama’s healthcare planning meeting on HIV/AIDS education in the minority communities.

In 2010, Rose was diagnosed for a third time with cancer and second time with lymphoma Hodgkin’s stage four and started treatment at M.D. Anderson. Rose and Lindsey (a high school friend recently diagnosed) formed a group called Pretty Girls with Cancer ™ after finding out both were diagnosed weeks apart. Rose began chemotherapy, and after eight months she received a stem cell transplant in 2011 in Philadelphia at the Pennsylvania Hospital. After returning from Philadelphia, Rose continued to get treatment at M.D. Anderson Hospital for transplant aftercare.

On October 11, 2012 Pretty Girls with Cancer ™ was launched – only months after Lindsey lost her battle with ovarian cancer. Since Lindsey’s passing, PGWC has been involved with “Be The Match™” program to find donors for cancer patients, American Cancer Society “Relay For Life ™”Survivorship Chair, “Totes of Love” for patients who receive cancer treatment in M.D Anderson, Texas Children’s and Methodist. Pretty Girls with Cancer™ has continued to assist cancer patients, survivors and caregivers with social services, referrals and coordinating events to raise funds for cancer patients. In 2013, Rose was chosen to be the Opening Speaker at Relay for Life (Rice University).

Kandice launched a school program “Coinz 4 Kids with Cancer” to raise money for kids with cancer in Texas Medical Center in 2013. In 2014, Pretty Girls with Cancer™ will launch “Too Pretty and Positive for Cancer,” a program that will connect caregivers, patients and survivors together through events, support groups and a phone buddy system.

Pretty Girls with Cancer ™ has a motto: “Staying Pretty, Positive and Powerful against Cancer.” Rose and Lindsey believe you can keep your self-confidence, stay positive and be powerful while fighting cancer.