This is a mission that is very close to my heart.
May 15, 2004, just three weeks before I was about to get marrried for the first time at 43 to the wonderful Silvano Marchetto, owner of Da Silvano restaurant, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.
A bad situation was made even worse when I realized I had let my insurance lapse. As a freelance artist it is extremely difficult not only to get, but to keep your insurance. (FACT: 47 million people in this country don’t have health insurance. And that number keeps going up.)
Well, Silvano and I did get married. (I had bandages from the lumpectomy underneath my wedding dress.) Fortunately, before I started chemotherapy, my husband was able to put me on his insurance plan. Yes, I realize how lucky I am. But I’m even luckier than you think.
While writing my graphic memoir Cancer Vixen, I came up this fact: 49% of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer and don’t have insurance have a greater risk of dying from the disease. I also added up the cost of treatment I would have paid out of pocket. The total? $192,702.04. Who the heck has $192,702.04? I certainly don’t.
On National Mammography Day that October, I personally funded 38 mammograms at the Breast Center at St. Vincent’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, where I had my treatments. This was the beginning The Cancer Vixen Fund.
You can donate to the fund (which is run out of St Vincents and is a 501c3) by:
- downloading this form
- going to svcmc.com for The Cancer Vixen Fund at St. Vincent’s Comprehensive Cancer Center
- calling Jodi Doherty at St Vincents at (212) 356-4643.
It is crucial that everyone, whether they have insurance or not, receive the proper screening to catch breast cancer early so they have a greater chance of successfully kicking cancer. As Evelyn Lauder says, “Early detection saves lives.” Here is the stunning statistic: women who have detected cancer early have a 95% survival rate! So, ladies get your boobies squished and save your life!
Marisa Acocella Marchetto
Founder, The Cancer Vixen Fund