Twenty five years ago (in December 1986), my mother died from ovarian cancer and ten years ago ( in August 2001), I lost my wife Nancy to breast cancer. Given my first-hand experience with this dreaded disease, it seems only appropriate that  I willingly accepted an invitation to serve  on the Board of Support Connection, a non-profit volunteer organization dedicated to serving women who are waging their own personal battle with breast and ovarian cancer. 

Mom never had an opportunity to avail herself of the services of Support Connection, but Nancy fortunately did. For the 3 years Nancy courageously battled her cancer, Support Connection was an invaluable resource to her, to me and our family. While the doctors and medical treatments kept us going, it was the women Nancy met at Support Connection - the staff, the counselors and, most importantly, those women also waging their own personal cancer battle -  that gave us hope.

Neither Nancy nor I grew up in a family with sisters; however, when we discovered Support Connection, we acquired a new family of "sisters" whose love and support sustained us as we confronted Nancy's breast cancer. It was there and with them that Nancy could share her inner most fears and concerns - subjects that she could not even share with me. Looking back, hope was the most important gift we received from Support Connection, because it was hope  that sustained and motivated Nancy to fight so courageously, whether the medical news was encouraging or depressing.

 Since our inception in 1996, the mission of Support Connection has remained to provide social, educational and emotional support to women, their families and friends affected by breast and ovarian cancer. In a community-like setting, our staff of trained volunteer counselors, all of whom are breast or ovarian cancer survivors, seek to reassure our "sisters"  that they are not alone in confronting their disease, and to offer them support, comfort and, most importantly, hope.

This year, Support Connection will be conducting their 17th annual "Support-A-Walk" on Sunday, October 2nd at FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights, NY. The "Walk" is our major fund-raising event that enables us to continue to offer our free, confidential and valuable services to women in need. I will be walking this year - as i always do - in memory of Mom and Nancy and every other "sister" I know who has experienced breast or ovarian cancer.

 Rather than tug on your heart-strings, I prefer to tug on your purse-strings and ask you to consider a financial contribution to Support Connection.I hope no one you love or know ever needs our services, but if they ever do, we are here to offer them - most importantly - hope! 

Thanks for reading and, hopefully, thank you for your contribution to Support Connection. 

Mike.