Marian Cancer Care Receives $18,000 from the Teal Journey Ovarian Cancer Foundation
The Teal Journey makes its largest donation to-date to benefit genetic counseling and testing needs at Mission Hope Cancer Center
The Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation is the grateful beneficiary of The Teal Journey Ovarian Cancer Foundation’s largest donation to-date of $18,000 in support of Marian Cancer Care at Mission Hope Cancer Center.
Known with the moniker “silent killer,” ovarian cancer is a remarkably deadly form of cancer with a lower survival rate than many other cancers. Often discovered in late stages, ovarian cancer frequently progresses too quickly to adequately cure the disease from the body.
In response to this great need, The Teal Journey Foundation provided this $18,000 gift through their second charity event hosted in their young history as a newly established foundation. With co-founders Cristina Martins Sinco, Gary McKinsey, and Jay Conner, The Teal Journey Ovarian Cancer Foundation remains focused on promoting education and early detection of ovarian cancer.
All three co-founders have witnessed firsthand the ramifications of cancer with McKinsey losing his wife to ovarian cancer, Martins Sinco losing her mother to ovarian cancer, and Connor losing a multitude of family members to many forms of cancer. Discovering that the resources provided to combat ovarian cancer was rather limited, the three co-founders decided to partner in establishing The Teal Journey Ovarian Cancer Foundation to bring awareness for this deadly disease.
With a promise made to his late wife Julie, McKinsey has made it his mission to educate women and men about ovarian cancer. Joining with Martins Sinco and Connor, they decided to directly help women battling ovarian cancer on the Central Coast by dedicating their promotion efforts of education and early detection. “Usually women do not receive treatment until symptoms are present,” Foundation president Martins Sinco said. “Genetic counseling and testing is a tool that will be used to help monitor any potential ovarian cancer before it becomes a major issue.”
The Teal Journey Ovarian Cancer Foundation gift will be used to benefit genetic counseling and testing for local cancer patients in need at Mission Hope Cancer Center. “We are truly fortunate to have this facility here,” McKinsey stated after making the significant $18,000 gift. “There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to ovarian cancer and our mission is to help educate women and men alike.”
“The Teal Journey Foundation is a tremendous resource for our Central Coast community. Having a deeply committed local organization that is focused on ovarian cancer awareness and outreach is such a blessing for patients and families. Our partnership with this amazing group of people improves the quality of life for our current patients with ovarian cancer and may even save lives in the future," says Christopher Lutman, gynecologic oncologist at Mission Hope Cancer Center.