Actor Patrick Dempsey honored for cancer care

FILE - In this June 28, 2011 file photo, actor Patrick Dempsey attends the "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon'" premiere in Times Square in New York. Dempsey is returning home this weekend to receive an award for his leadership in caring for cancer patients Dempsey, most famous for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the television series “Grey’s Anatomy,” is scheduled to receive the Maine Creative Industries Award on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 in Portland. He helped found the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. He was driven by his mother’s battle with ovarian cancer. Amanda Dempsey died in March at age 77. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File) FILE - In this June 28, 2011 file photo, actor Patrick Dempsey attends the "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon'" premiere in Times Square in New York. Dempsey is returning home this weekend to receive an award for his leadership in caring for cancer patients Dempsey, most famous for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the television series “Grey’s Anatomy,” is scheduled to receive the Maine Creative Industries Award on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2014 in Portland. He helped found the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. He was driven by his mother’s battle with ovarian cancer. Amanda Dempsey died in March at age 77. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

By Associated Press November 15, 2014 1 min read

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Maine-born actor Patrick Dempsey returned home to accept an award for his work helping cancer patients.

Dempsey – most famous for his role as Dr. Derek Shepherd in the TV series “Grey’s Anatomy” – and the Jackson Laboratory were awarded the Maine Creative Industries Award on Saturday in Portland.

Forty-eight-year-old Dempsey was inspired by his mother’s battle with ovarian cancer to help found the Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope & Healing at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston. His mother, Amanda Dempsey, died in March. The Jackson Lab is a genetics research facility in Bar Harbor.

The award is given by the nonprofit Maine Center for Creativity, which said both recipients were honored for their “visionary thinking and persistence in helping cancer patients” in the state.