Indy's Super Cure Success!

Last weekend was the much-anticipated large-scale collection event for Indy's Super Cure. The initiative has collected breast tissue donations from women since July 2011, with this past weekend being the most significant of the collections. Collecting tissue from 700 women, many of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, the weekend was the largest drive by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Cancer Center.

Women's Fund provided a grant to support the initiative, and our Executive Director Jennifer Pope Baker was involved on the organizing committee. As a result, I learned that, in order to serve an unprecedented number of donors in one weekend, the Tissue Bank needed a large number of volunteers. I recruited my mother to volunteer with me, and joined colleagues through CICF (pictured right), along with many others, in helping out.

The donor turnout, impressive in itself, enabled the collection of healthy breast tissue for future use by researchers. Study of healthy tissue is critical to understanding how the disease manifests itself, and having diverse tissue enables researchers to understand why it manifests differently in women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. This Tissue Bank is the only known repository for healthy breast tissue, so its role in finding a cure is significant, and it may play a role in finding a cure for other cancers.

I was so impressed with how well-orchestrated this weekend's collection event was. As a volunteer, I understood my role and had the support and proper training to be successful. It was awesome to see a number of Women's Fund supporters at the event, volunteering and donating tissue (see a few, left, posing with Blue, the Indianapolis Colts mascot). I recently watched a clip of co-founder Dr. Anna Maria Storniolo being interviewed by Barbara Lewis on Inside Indiana Business. She said that this initiative, tied to the Indianapolis Super Bowl, has been embraced by Indianapolis and our community has made this our cause, championing the effort to collect tissue for a cure. This was evident to me in the dynamic group of passionate women and men I saw on Saturday.

I am looking forward to watching the progress made by the Tissue Bank and researchers. I'm grateful that Women's Fund has been involved and I have been able to support this effort!

Primary Image Credit: Tommy Trittipo