Cancer Survivor Turns Passion Into Funding For Research

COLUMBUS, Ohio —This year, nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and thousands will beat it.

A survivor has been cancer-free for ten years and took her love of figure skating and turned it into an annual event that has raised more than $200,000 for cancer research.

“I’ve skated my whole life. I started when I was 11 and never gave it up,“ said Carolyn Bongirno.

Bongirno skated into her 20s and early 30s. She even competed at adult nationals, but she hung up her medals to try and have a baby.

“My husband and I were trying to have a baby. I was at the doctor’s and they did several tests and made the recommendation before we start fertility drugs, we try slowing down because they weren’t finding a problem,“ she said.

But Carolyn wanted a family.

“I downsized my job and I went in and said, ‘I’m ready. Let’s go and start infertility treatments,‘ and that was the day the doctor found the lump,“ she said.

The long, hard journey began.

“I don’t know if I was in a continuous state of optimism or a continuous state of denial, but with every step, I said, ‘OK, it’s a lump. OK, It’s a cyst. It’s not a mass. But then it was a mass, and I said, ‘It won’t be malignant.‘ But then it was and I said, ‘It won’t spread.‘ And it had,“ she said.

Carolyn went through chemotherapy and several surgeries, but through it all, she still wanted a baby.

“When they gave me the chemo, they sat me down and said you may not be able to have a child, the chemo could make you sterile—and I said, ‘Can we harvest my eggs?‘ and they said no and then years later, we had her. It’s absolutely incredible,“ she said.

Carolyn has been cancer free for ten years and decided she wanted to help others going through the fight.

“I realized are equally impacted by cancer diagnosis, a patient fights the battle every day, but a family member has to sit back and feel powerless, so I wanted to do something that would make them feel empowered, even if it’s just for a day or moment like they were doing something to help,“ Carolyn said.

That’s when she came up with Skate for Hope. 100 local skaters earn a spot in the cast—not through tryouts, but by raising money for cancer research.

“I got through it and it’s because of research I am here today,“ she said.

Figure skating stars like Emily Hughes also came in to help.

“My grandmother had breast cancer. I do what I can to help,“ she said.

It is the sixth year for the event and it takes ten months to plan.

Carolyn has help from the community, coaches, local skaters and her family.

Proceeds from the event go to the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research at the James, as well as the Vera Bradley Foundation.

To get involved or to learn more about the event, visit http://www.skateforhope.org