YSC Rocked 2012!

Wow! What a year! So much happened, yet I feel like the year went by in a flash.

There are exciting things coming to YSC in 2013. Before we dive into where we are going, we should celebrate where we have been. 

Here is my 2012 Recap:

1 YSC, Face 2 Face

In the summer of 2012, I announced the launch of YSC’s “1 YSC” campaign to invite all young women with breast cancer to stand together as one united community. I spoke at the Affiliate Summit in July and began an open four-month discussion with our current volunteer leaders about how we would do this together. As a result, together as 1 YSC, we developed solutions to create a new community of engaged volunteers and survivors that we’ll be rolling out in 2013. Check out the video that kicked off this initiative.

Post-Treatment Navigator Released

BIG NEWS!!!! This year we released What’s Next? A Young Woman’s Post-Treatment Navigator, a guidebook based on a 2010 survey to 300 women in the YSC community. This insightful book, the third installment in YSC’s navigator series, explores a wide range of topics including: potential long-term side effects like chemo brain, early menopause, lymphedema and weight management; understanding emotions and relationships changes; living a healthy lifestyle, and more. This is a must read! Click here to download the PDF or order a free print copy.

East Coast Tour de Pink Sells Out!

Two hundred three-day riders and more than 50 one-day cyclists signed up for the 2012 YSC East Coast Tour de Pink. I rode all 200 miles for the first time and it was INCREDIBLE!!! Our Tour de Pink bike rides this year raised over $1.2 million and had 1,400 participants overall, including 200 survivors. Check out pictures here. I took my body back and kicked cancer’s butt!!! If you have not seen the amazing videos from this years’ ride, watch them. If you haven’t yet experienced one of our Tour de Pink events, I’m confident you’ll want to join us in 2013 after viewing these videos.

YSC’s YouTube Channel is Launched

YSC is now on YouYube. Have you subscribed to our channel? It rocks! Check out the new “WHY I RIDE” video series where various people talk about what inspires them to climb on a bike and ride 200 miles in Tour de Pink.

31 Faces, 31 Days BCAM Campaign

Breast cancer isn’t pretty and it’s not pink … That’s what we told the world this October! YSC highlighted 31 young survivors’ stories that represented the various challenges young women with breast cancer face and it was a huge success! Have you read these remarkable women’s stories? They are powerful and inspiring!

4^th Annual Congressional Women’s Softball Game

I was honored to throw out the first pitch at the 4^th annual bipartisan Congressional Women’s softball game in D.C., where the women of Congress play the women from the Washington Press Corps to raise awareness that young women can and do get breast cancer. The Congressional team lost this year, but I can’t wait to see what happens in 2013! Check out Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson making an announcement about the game on the House floor.

NYC & Kansas City Host the Largest In Living Pink Events, in YSC History

With more than 600 guests, the national New York In Living Pink gala raised over $250,000, including a text donation campaign that raised $10,000 in less than three minutes. Honorees included YSC founding member, Tour de Pink co-founder and board president Lisa J. Frank, Dunnan Edell from CCA Industries, and Genomic Health. The Kansas City event hosted more than 400 attendees, raised $91,0000 and honored YSC survivor Brandi Palmer and John Michael Quinn, M.D. We have two awesome videos that were taken at this year’s events!

A New Partnership with Keep A Breast

YSC recently created a formal partnership with the Keep A Breast Foundation (KAB), based in Southern California, for a Treasured Chest program. This program is all about respecting the beauty of a woman’s body and I am grateful to partner with such an outstanding organization on this very cool initiative … check out Keep A Breast founder Shaney Jo and I discussing it here.

YSC’s New Blog

We launched YSC’s first-ever blog in May and it has been an extraordinary success! I’ve been chronicling my experiences training for my first Tour de Pink rides, leading YSC, navigating my “new normal” as a young breast cancer survivor, as well as providing general YSC updates and news. We’ve also had phenomenal guest bloggers, ranging from YSC staff and survivors to advocates, legal experts and medical providers. Thank you to everyone for helping the blog become part of YSC’s culture!

New Partnerships!

This was an exceptional year for YSC joining forces with noteworthy partners such as Oakley, Harley-Davidson, Emergen-C, Ford Warriors in Pink and the Athleta Iron Girl event series. I’m sure most of you saw the national magazine ads that Oakley secured to promote YSC … they were sensational! I’m thrilled that sales from Emergen-C Pink (pink lemonade flavor) will help provide support services for young women with breast cancer along with Harley-Davidson’s MotorClothes® Pink Label Collection. We also partnered with the Athleta Iron Girl event series and Ford Warriors in Pink this year – which was wonderful! I can’t wait to see what happens in 2013!

YSC’s Program Team Wins Best Abstract at BCY1

In the fall, YSC presented four posters at the International Conference for Young Women with Breast Cancer (BCY1) in Dublin, Ireland. Not only was it terrific that YSC was able to attend and collaborate with others around the world who are decided to the same mission, one of our submissions, entitled “Young and Metastastic: Addressing the Unique Needs of Advanced Breast Cancer in Young Women,” was selected as a best abstract and presented orally by Stacy Lewis, YSC’s chief program officer and deputy chief executive, to an international community of advocates, researchers and medical providers. Kudos to Stacy and her team!

A Petition Signature Drive to End Breast Cancer

YSC’s mission is to support young women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, but we also want to do everything in our power to help end this disease once and for all. To show that we are serious about that commitment, YSC partnered with the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC) to help obtain signatures for its petition to end breast cancer by 2020. I am proud to say the YSC community collected over 6,300 signatures in two months to add to NBCC’s petition to the President. Thank you to everyone who signed and/or helped obtain signatures to represent young women affected by breast cancer in this effort.

Three New Departments are Created!

New staff, new responsibilities and a new level of commitment happened in 2012. This year, YSC reorganized itself and created three new departments: Community Engagement, Technology and Marketing/Communications (Marcom). The new positions, departments and responsibilities of the talented staff will ensure that YSC is able to fulfill its mission and reach even more young women with breast cancer than ever before!

I attended my first C4YW!

Did you know that the C4YW conference we co-host is the largest conference for young women with breast cancer in the world?! No, I am not kidding! This year was my first time attending and as a survivor, I was blown away. To be around almost 1,000 young women just like me is life changing. I can’t wait until February 2013 – the conference will be on the West Coast for the first time. Have you registered yet?

Wow … 2012 has been a magnificent year! Each and every one of you played a part in these achievements - I thank you for that.

I am enthusiastic about what the future holds for YSC - but most important, I’m grateful YSC is here to support every young woman affected by breast cancer so she knows she’s not alone. That’s something to toast to!

Happy New Year!