March 13, 2017. This is a date I will remember for the rest of my life. Not only is this my birthday (shout out to my fellow pisces), but also the day I received a phone call from Dana Farber confirming that I am BRCA positive.
Every single one of us has the BRCA gene, however, many women in my family and I have a mutated BRCA gene. In short, this genetic mutation increases my likelihood (87% to be exact) of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer in my lifetime.
Woah, hold the phone. Breast cancer? Ovarian cancer? Me? No way, today is my 24th birthday…this cannot be happening to me.
Fast forward a year and a half later: In about two weeks I will be completing my third marathon with my sister, Kristina Coccoluto (who is another amazing BRCA babe)! We are running the New York City Marathon and raising money for Bright Pink, a non-profit organization aiming “to save women’s lives from breast and ovarian cancer by empowering them to live proactively at a young age”.
Many of you graciously volunteered to row 10K meters and donate to Bright Pink last October. I am not asking you to hop on the row 10K this October during Breast Cancer Awareness month (although we can certainly ask the boss in the future).
As you can see, this cause is near and dear to my heart and I could not be more proud to run 26.2 miles raising money for an unbelievable charity geared towards empowering or high-risk women. At the bottom of this blog post is my CrowdRise fundraiser page. Please feel free to share, repost, tweet or whatever it is that you do to help Bright Pink continue to fund educational programs for young women at high-risk for breast and ovarian cancer.
Being BRCA positive does not mean I have to live my life fearing cancer. I am a firm believer that knowledge IS power, and there is not a day that goes by where I regret getting tested. On November 4, I will be wearing a Bright Pink singlet through the five boroughs of New York City with my sister to show cancer that they picked the wrong family to F@#$ with. Thank you in advance to my #FixxFam for believing in me and helping me towards yet another finish line.
https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/brightpinknyc2018/vanessabramante