The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
October’s Charitable Donee
BCRF; October 2025 Charitable Donee
I still remember the day I’d learned her diagnosis 13 years ago.
It was New Year’s Eve. I was a recent high school graduate, gearing up to start college in the Spring. Everyone was dancing and partying the year away but I was distracted. The signs were there, like the way my mom’s scarf has been sitting…oddly atop her head lately, but like the strong, emotionally impenetrable woman my mother was, she hid them - outright denied them - terrified that her admission could jeopardize her only child’s chances of becoming a college graduate. A dream she herself never realized. After researching and pestering and asking over and over again, she finally cracked and told me the truth: Yes, earlier in the year she’d been diagnosed with Stage II breast cancer.
This, just months after a clean mammogram.
Of course on the inside I was reeling, but keeping it together because I knew she was only barely keeping it together herself when she told me. When we left that bathroom, she’d continued on with our New Year’s Eve celebration like nothing happened. But I was shocked, scared, shook. Death had already laid an early claim to so many others in my family. How could I go off to college knowing what she was dealing with? Was she next? How could I live life without my mom?
Globally, breast cancer is the most diagnosed form of cancer.
1 of every 8 women are diagnosed with it over the course of their lifetime, and about 50% of those diagnosed had no other risk factors aside from age and sex.
Despite this, with early detection and intervention, the 15-year survival rate across those diagnosed is 80% and climbing - thanks to the efforts of organizations like the BCRF.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF) was founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder with one mission: to rid the world of breast cancer. Diagnosed with breast cancer herself, Mrs. Lauder resolved to take action and teamed up with her husband (Leonard Lauder) and Dr. Larry Norton to do just that, during a time when there were limited treatment options and no forseeable cure (or hope) for women with the disease.
Since then, BCRF has contributed heavily to the advancement of breast cancer research, with it’s scientists discovering the locations of the then elusive BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, extending their reach worldwide across 6 of 7 continents, contributing to the 5-year survival rate increasing to just under 100% and a whopping 44% decrease in breast cancer mortality rates. BCRF has also raised over $1 billion since its inception, which undoubtedly played a pivotal role in the approval of 10 new metastatic drugs since 2016.
My mom, my son and I at my son’s Moving Up Ceremony dinner…or dessert at this point 😋
Fast forward to today, and I’m proud to say that my mom is a breast cancer survivor and got to see me walk across the stage at my college graduations 10+ years later, not once - but twice! And got to witness her grandson’s pre-school moving up ceremony. Things that I know could only be possible thanks to the monumental research and development efforts of BCRF.
From the bottom of my heart, I sincerely thank everyone who’s had hand in the work that the BCRF has done and continues to do, including the late Mrs. Evelyn Lauder for her vision and tenacity, because you helped this woman be able to enjoy seeing her mother thrive for 13 years and counting.
As BCRF continues their research in the fight for a cure, I find myself absolutely honored, on behalf of Clarke’s Creations, to be able to contribute 10% of our October revenues to the cause in honor of my mother for Breast Cancer Awareness month.
I pray that the Lord continues to guide the brilliant minds of the scientists and researchers of the BCRF towards the cure that Mrs. Lauder had the courage to seek, and that the world so desperately needs.
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