A family¡¯s Boot Walk tradition honors their loved one¡¯s legacy
September 09, 2025
Medically Reviewed | Last reviewed by on September 09, 2025
Every year, the Perley family puts on their boots to walk in MD Anderson¡¯s Boot Walk to End Cancer? in honor of Eileen Campbell, their beloved mother and wife.
Eileen faced cancer twice ¡ª first, a breast cancer diagnosis in 2005, and then, a metastatic small bowel cancer diagnosis in 2017. Both times, she and her family knew they could trust MD Anderson to provide the best possible cancer care.
Since she died in 2018, Eileen¡¯s family continues to honor her legacy by donating and raising funds for cancer research at MD Anderson.
A family finds comfort and care at MD Anderson
Eileen¡¯s family says her cancer experience and the care she received at MD Anderson had a major impact on her life. She was enrolled in a taxane and anthracycline clinical trial for breast cancer that she credited with saving her life in 2005 after her invasive ductal carcinoma diagnosis. As a result of her experience, Eileen became a dedicated advocate for MD Anderson¡¯s cancer research and patient care.
Then, in October 2017, Eileen returned to MD Anderson for a second opinion and treatment when she learned she had metastatic small bowel cancer ¡ª specifically, duodenal adenocarcinoma. She underwent a Whipple procedure led by , and began chemotherapy under the supervision of , in late 2017, but her disease quickly advanced. She died in January 2018.
Her youngest daughter, Kathleen Perley, says the support they received at MD Anderson brought much-needed comfort during a difficult time for their family, and helped her better understand her mother¡¯s passion for supporting MD Anderson.
¡°I just felt so safe and reassured. I knew they were going to do everything they could,¡± Kathleen says. ¡°They never sugar-coated anything in terms of expectations for different outcomes, but they gave me a high level of confidence with their understanding of what she had, what needed to be done and how to handle it. They didn¡¯t look at her like she was the sickest person in the room.¡±
A legacy of advocacy and caring for others
In 2018, Eileen¡¯s family established the Eileen M. Campbell Endowed Fund in Cancer Research to support the cancer research at MD Anderson that was so important to her. Over the years, the fund has supported a variety of research initiatives, including ovarian cancer research, proteomics analysis, and a benchmarking study on how to recruit, train and retain the best cancer researchers.
The endowment continues Eileen¡¯s legacy of helping others facing cancer.
¡°She had always had the bigger picture mind. It wasn't just breast cancer. Everybody who was impacted by cancer was her concern,¡± says Doug Perley, Eileen¡¯s husband. ¡°The best way to predict the future is to create it. And beginning in 2005, that's what she was creating ¡ª a future that would cure cancer.¡±
Eileen used her professional connections and skills to lobby the Texas legislature for cancer research funding. She and a group of fellow cancer survivors formed the ¡°Pink Posse¡± to advocate for cancer patients at the state level. Eileen¡¯s determination in meeting with top representatives opened the door for the Pink Posse to speak with key decision makers. In 2007, they advocated for the ballot measure, which was passed by Texas voters, to create the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Doug says Eileen was proud of the collaborative effort and public support for CPRIT, which has now dedicated more than $3.7 billion in grants for cancer research to date, with MD Anderson receiving more than $675 million of that total.
Doug says that although Eileen was a busy executive, she gladly became the go-to person for anybody at her company facing a cancer diagnosis. Eileen also enjoyed putting together and delivering care packages for newly diagnosed cancer patients. One of the recipients attended Eileen¡¯s funeral, even though they¡¯d only met once when she delivered a care package to them in a parking lot.
¡°She always made time to go talk to someone, and if they didn't reach out to her, she found some way to approach them and make sure they didn't feel alone,¡± Doug says.
Finding community and hope at Boot Walk to End Cancer
Today, the Perley family continues to raise money for the Eileen M. Campbell Endowed Fund in Cancer Research by participating in MD Anderson¡¯s Boot Walk to End Cancer. This is the tenth year the family will walk together.
Eileen encouraged them to join the first Boot Walk in 2016, and the family has participated either in person or virtually each year since then ¡ª a couple of years ago, Doug and Kathleen even walked at Disneyland! Doug says the Boot Walk¡¯s mission, activities for all ages, and sense of community among those facing cancer keep them coming back year after year.
¡°There's a community out there. This is where you belong. You're not alone,¡± Doug says. ¡°That¡¯s the best part: being able to walk with the kids and seeing a whole bunch of other people with their kids. It's a family affair.¡±
Eileen¡¯s eldest daughter, Meghan Leggett, says she participates in Boot Walk because the cancer research being done at MD Anderson gives her hope for the future of cancer care.
¡°When people hear that they or a loved one has cancer, they often immediately start thinking about death. All I want is for that not to be the case. I want there to be hope ¡ª a lot more hope.
The research MD Anderson is doing, and the contributions people make to those projects, are what's getting us there,¡± Meghan says. ¡°We are hopeful that one day other families will not have to endure the loss of a loved one too early."
Kathleen agrees, noting that 100% of the funds raised for Boot Walk go directly to MD Anderson¡¯s mission to end cancer.
¡°If anyone's gonna crack the code, it's going to be MD Anderson,¡± Kathleen says. ¡°That's why funding and fundraising are so important.¡±