LENOX HILL HOSPITAL'S MEDAL OF FREEDOM

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AT THE WALDOLPH ASTORIA

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Story By: Marcy McDonald

Photos By: Ann Watt

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Singer KT Sullivan with John And Katherine McEnroe And Steve Downy

Dr. Lauren Cassell With Robin Roberts And Gladys George

A sea of black ties flooded the Waldorf Astoria last night -- certainly the Hilton's most glamorous address -- to award ABC anchor Robin Roberts Lenox Hill Hospital's Medal of Freedom. As social scions Dr. Sherrell and Muffie Potter Aston joined Co-Chars Ellen and Daniel Crown and Karen and William Lauder, John and Katherine McEnroe and the town glitterati applauded her triumph over breast cancer, William Hiltz (Chair of the Board of Trustees), Jim McMullan, Roberts thanked her surgeon, a young (and drop dead gorgeous) Dr. Lauren Cassell. In early 2007, Roberts published first book, "From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By", but by June she was diagnosed with breast cancer -- and went public with the news. Her efforts to fight cancer has been recognized by everybody from the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention program, Gilda's Club and WISTAR. By the time her book came out in paperback, it had been retitled with an Eighth rule.