"Living Proof": True Survivor Stories

Jennifer Levinson

The initial shock of her first breast cancer diagnosis at age 34 set Jennifer Levinson on the path of advocacy and action. "I didn't even know that women could get breast cancer that young," she said.

When she was diagnosed with Her2-positive breast cancer, her doctor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York recommended that she return home to Jacksonville, Florida, and participate in a clinical trial of Herceptin. After a bilateral mastectomy and chemotherapy, Jennifer joined the trial focused on adjuvant Herceptin use — a trial that has since demonstrated a 52 percent reduction in risk of breast cancer recurrence and a 33 percent increase in survival rates.

Although her original diagnosis brought on a lot of emotions, Jennifer chose to channel them in a positive way. When she was rediagnosed at age 36, she was already an activist. She attended local support groups, discovered the Young Survival Coalition (YSC) and, through this member organization of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (NBCC), became active with NBCC and its research and education arm, the National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund (NBCCF). She has attended three Annual Advocacy Training Conferences and is a graduate of NBCCF's premier science-training course, Project LEAD. She also received NBCC training to lead a team of activists who went to Capitol Hill to lobby for breast cancer research funding. Jennifer conducted briefings for YSC members prior to the advocacy conference, so they would be knowledgeable about the disease and the issues and could take full advantage of the educational sessions. She also helped create a Frequently Asked Questions section geared toward underinsured and uninsured younger women for the YSC website.

Jennifer encourages others with breast cancer to do what she has done: get involved, get empowered, create change.