The 5th annual Celebrating Young and Strong event will benefit the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers’ Young and Strong Program at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and will be a wonderfully joyful night; celebrating survivorship, recognizing the courageous women still battling breast cancer every day, and honoring those we’ve lost to the disease.

With dollars raised at the event, the program is able to continue and grow their research projects, keeping them at the forefront of providing the best possible care for young women with breast cancer. These funds also support social workers and the groups they facilitate, and allow for seminars and workshops to be provided for patients on topics such as survivorship, fertility, relationships and parenting, genetics, living with advanced disease, and more.

Each year in the United States, more than 12,000 women under age 40 are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer. Many of these women struggle with feeling the pressure to balance career and relationships, have concerns about fertility, or are already raising a family—and a diagnosis of breast cancer adds to these stressors. Recognizing these different and challenging issues, Ann Partridge, MD, MPH, Director, Young and Strong, The Program for Young Women with Breast Cancer, began to focus her research on this population. Founded in 2005, the program has provided a formidable support system for more than 3,000 young women since its inception. The mission of Young and Strong is twofold: to enhance care and education for patients and their families, as well as to advance the understanding of the biology of breast cancer and the experience of the disease for younger women through ongoing research.

Additional information regarding the event can be found online at www.CelebratingYoungandStrong.com.