 In 1998, ten years after her breast cancer diagnosis, Connally celebrated her 80th birthday with fellow breast cancer survivors at a ceremony in the Nellie B. Connally Breast Center at Anderson Hospital in Houston.Private business ventures after 1980 were less successful than John Connally's career as a politician and dealmaking Houston lawyer.An oil company in which he invested encountered trouble, and $200 million of real-estate projects failed.