The Pink Paper Fall 2013 | Page 7

Kathleen T. Ruddy, MD 61, is a breast cancer surgeon trained at Memorial SloanKettering, a member of the Leadership Council of the Harvard School of Public Health and the Clinton Global Initiative, and Founder and President of the Breast Health and Healing Foundation (501c3) whose mission is to discover the causes of breast cancer and to use that knowledge to prevent the disease. Her goal is to answer two questions: “Does a virus cause breast cancer in women?” and “Is the world’s first preventive breast cancer vaccine developed by Professor Vincent Tuohy (Cleveland Clinic, 2010) safe and effective for use in women?” “It’s much easier to pluck fruit from an existing tree of knowledge than take a chance and grow a new one. Nevertheless, it’s time for a new tree, one nurtured in the field of prevention.” — Kathleen T. Ruddy, MD Cindy Sullivan, 59, is a thriver who was diagnosed with a little known and very aggressive type of breast cancer; Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) in April 2011, sixteen months after losing her mother to lung cancer. Cindy joined the Champions of the Pink Vaccine in a firm commitment to get the vaccine funded for clinical trials so other women will never need to travel the uncertain path of breast cancer. She has been a copy writer for many years and is in the process of working on her first manuscript for a novel. “It’s time for a paradigm change in funding breast cancer research. We’ve been funding cures for years and little progress has been made. Why not fund prevention so future generations never need worry about suffering through the physical and emotional trauma of chemotherapy, mastectomy and radiation.” — Cindy Sullivan David Jay David Jay dealt with the pain of watching his 29 year old friend Paulina go through her breast cancer diagnosis, mastectomy and recovery by taking her picture, as a fashion photographer he’d taken her picture hundreds of times since she was 17. From this experience The SCAR Project was born and evolved into what it’s become today. Now seven years later The SCAR Project has touched millions with it’s raw, unfiltered look at the grace and courage that IS breast cancer. Hundreds of thousands of people have viewed the images of young woman whose lives and bodies have been forever changed as they confront their personal journey with breast cancer. A documentary about The SCAR Project called, “Baring It All” has been aired around the world and was awarded a 2012 daytime EMMY. The SCAR Project is now a non-profit and although David Jay is the founder, at the end of the day, he prefers to consider himself only a photographer. David Jay is presently shooting two subsets of The SCAR Project: The SCAR Project - Male Breast Cancer and The Alabama Project - The Civil Rights of Health Care. Fall 2013 THE PINK PAPER 5