PORTLAND, Maine -- 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 non-profit Maine Center for Creativity, which said both recipients were honoured for their "visionary thinking and persistence in helping cancer patients" in the state.
