Promise Fund of Florida

My name is Nancy G. Brinker and in the year 1980 I had to watch my selfless, courageous, and brilliant sister Susan lose her battle with breast cancer at the age of 36. Before she passed she made me promise her 1- that I would find a cure to this disease and 2- that all women would have access to the resources needed to fight women’s cancers.

After founding and building Susan G. Komen for over 40 years and raising 3 billion dollars I knew it was time to start fulfilling the second promise I made to Suzy, helping women access lifesaving care.

I was sitting at my computer in spring of 2018 when a I came across a study that found that my home state of Florida ranked LAST in the nation for its share of nonelderly women with health insurance. After doing more research I found that my own county, Palm Beach County, had some of the worst health disparities for women, especially women with cancer.

This was it, this was how I was going to fulfill my second promise to my beloved sister, I was going to fundamentally change the healthcare system, starting with the one in my backyard.

I called up two of my closest friends, Julie Fisher-Cummings and Laurie Silvers, who have also dedicated their lives to working to improve quality of life for men and women of all socioeconomic backgrounds in many different areas of need. They couldn’t believe what was happening to women with breast and cervical cancer in our own community and together we formed the Promise Fund of Florida.

Now this organization may not have my sister’s name but it does have her fiery spirit. I can feel her pushing me everyday to fight for these women who cannot get cancer care. I will never forget when I was sitting with Suzy in the hospital and we looked out into the waiting room and saw a sea of women helplessly pleading for care. She turned to me and said:

“where a woman lives shouldn’t determine whether she lives”.

I am reminded of these words everyday as I work to help all women prevent and fight breast and cervical cancer. Every woman deserves lifesaving care and the Promise Fund won’t rest until no woman dies from late stage breast or cervical cancer.

I was once asked, “what would Suzy say about the work you are doing with the Promise Fund?” And I responded “she would tell me to hurry up and get it done.” I know Suzy is cheering me on and would be so proud of all the work we have done and will continue to do for women.