Hope Begins Here

After college, Nicholas pursued his interest in oncology conducting research at the National Institute of Health through UGSP, a program for high-performing students from disadvantaged backgrounds. His work focused on T-cell therapies for pediatric malignancies and on bladder cancer.

The Sun Safety/Skin Cancer Prevention program works to reduce the incidence of skin cancer by offering free prevention education and free skin cancer screenings to the public in Dana-Farber’s Blum Family Resource Center Van. All screenings are performed by a board-certified Brigham and Women’s Hospital dermatologist on board the van.

The Debbie Plunkett Memorial Scholarship was established by the Plunkett Family and Friends. Two $1,750 were awarded in 2024. The first to Giselle Vides Perlera, a high school student from Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and to Camilo Cartagena from Lynn Classical High School.

Cancer Retreats

Krysta’s mother passed away from Breast Cancer when she was two years old, and Krysta says she has an endless list of things she would give up to have known her Mom. Her aunt tells her that she’s a carbon copy of her mother, carrying her resilience, strength, sarcasm, and empathy.

Her mom told Kaitlyn, “she was the greatest blessing in his story.” And through it all, he demonstrated to everyone what it means to be resilient regardless of the circumstances, to persevere through all adversity and to have fun along the way.

Adriana’s story is one of hope and resilience. Her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer before Adriana was born and experienced a recurrence a year later. Despite being told she may never get pregnant, Adriana’s mother never gave up hope—and that hope was realized with Adriana’s birth. Through her mother, Adriana learned the importance of gratitude and the power of simple acts of kindness.

When she first heard her mother had breast cancer in 2022, Giselle felt overwhelmed as she became her mom’s primary support system for two years, accompanying her to every medical appointment as a translator and source of comfort.

Last year, in Ryan’s second semester of junior year, he was diagnosed with cancer, requiring surgery and chemotherapy. Weightlifting was usually his coping mechanism, but he was unable to continue with weightlifting due to side effects from the chemotherapy. Undeterred, Ryan says, “regarding cancer’s impact on my future goals, it has only fueled my ambitions.”

Boston North Cancer Association awarded a grant to the Melanoma Education Foundation to provide facial scanners in 26 North Shore high schools. Facial scanners are an educational tool to help people understand the damaging effects of the sun. Through the use of ultra-violet rays, these scanners allow people to see layers of skin not visible to the naked eye. Used for middle school children through adults, this tool helps identify the areas of your face most impacted by the sun and show the benefits of sunscreen in blocking UV rays.