AUBURN - Carol Baldwin, breast cancer survivor and mother to several famous actors, believes that a lot her sons' talent came from her.

“I was at Stephen's wedding, and I was hugging and kissing everybody just like everyone else,” she said, referring to her son, who along with brothers Alec, Daniel and William, are probably the most famous sibling screen stars from central New York.

“I was getting ready to have a double mastectomy, and I wasn't feeling well at all. But I pretended like I was happy like everyone else,” she said. “So that acting ability? It comes from me.”

Baldwin was the keynote speaker for Auburn Memorial Hospital's 10th annual Women's Health Institute, a day-long affair held at the Holiday Inn in Auburn.

Titled “Our Mothers, Our Daughters, Our Health,” the program consisted of both breakfast and lunch, speeches by area experts, and numerous workshops given by health-care professionals.

Saturday's event started with a continental breakfast, and about 200 guests filled the hotel's main hall, where they enjoyed bagels, doughnuts and egg sandwiches.

While the patrons had coffee, several AMH officials spoke, then Baldwin presented her address.

“I'm a cancer crusader,” Baldwin told the group. A 17-year cancer survivor, she is the founder of the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, which annually contributes hundreds of thousands of dollars to research.

"My family is unbelievably supportive," she said. "After that wedding I told you all about, Stephen didn't even go on his honeymoon ... he came home to Syracuse and was with me when I had my operation."

After Baldwin's talk, the audience broke up into groups to attend sessions held by area doctors, including "Breast Cancer Surgery" by AMH surgeon Dr. Deborah Geer and "Arthritis and Exercise" by local orthopedist Dr. Marc Pietropaoli.

After lunch, the meetings continued, and the affair ended with a question and answer session with all the workshop presenters.

"Those of you here with cancer, I know it's devastating," Baldwin said in her speech. "But my boys always tell me, 'This, too, will pass.' Those are words I try to live by, and I hope you have the courage to do that, too."

To learn more

For more information about the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, call (631) 444-4301, or visit www.findacure.org