Lindsay’s The Bomb

Meeting courageous young women, survivors and previvors alike, is by far the best part about testing positive for my BRCA1 mutation and deciding to have a mastectomy. Before I got that phone call in September 2008 with the grim results, I never knew that so many young women were out there courageously defying their destinies everyday and paving the way for others, including myself. While I was studying and going to parties, living the life of your average American college student, young women were finding out about their gene’s dangerous secrets and taking brave steps to make sure they have every chance at a long, fruitful life like everyone else. Little did I know that I would soon be in their presence. And what a presence it is!

Among these brave women is 27-year-old Lindsay Avner. A few short years ago, she founded Be Bright Pink, the only national non-profit organization that provides support and outreach specifically to young women at high risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Let me put it this way: To me, this lady’s a bigger rock start than Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen. Lindsay tested positive at a point when few other young women even knew about the mutation, let alone went under the knife to counterbalance a dangerous predisposition to cancer. But Lindsay did not want to mess around after watching her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunts, and cousins battle breast cancer. At 23 years old, she volunteered to have a double prophylactic mastectomy with reconstruction. With no support network designed for young, single women, she decided to take matters into her own hands once again. Thanks to her energy and ingenuity, Be Bright Pink has united hundreds of young women across the country and spread the word on BRCA to millions of Americans. This woman is my hero.

Despite her crazy schedule, Lindsay and I have been writing back and forth since I learned about my test results in late 2008. She’s been right there whenever I need her. I’ll even get emails back from Lindsay in the wee hours of the morning, because she wanted to follow up and recommend just a few more contacts or a few more resources.

Ali, Lindsay and me after a big, delicious dinner in the nation's capitol

Ali, Lindsay and me after a big, delicious dinner in the nation's capitol

Well, just a few weeks ago, I finally met Lindsay in person! It was such a surreal experience to see her walking towards me, to give her a huge bear hug and to catch glimpses of her smiling over from across the dinner table. It was a warm evening in Washington, D.C., so we decided to eat outside at a restaurant near Union Station with the Capitol looming off in the near distance. Lindsay wore a thin, low-cut black cotton dress that flattered her breasts very, very well. Not even a surgeon would have noticed that this stunning, healthy young woman had a mastectomy. Wow, I thought. If she can look this smoking good then so can I.

To be honest, I was so nervous for our dinner, which I had marked in my calendar for weeks. What would she be like? What would she think of me? I tried to keep it cool, slipping in smart and witty comments when I could. Then my true colors slipped through when dessert arrived. I’m helplessly clumsy – physically and even intellectually at times. Some have called me a space cadet. Either way, I knew things weren’t going to be pretty when Lindsay and I decided to share the same dessert. After a few bites, it looked like I basically rolled around in our hot fudge brownie sundae like a pig in the mud on a hot day. I tried to maintain the skilled table manners that my mother attempted to instill in me, but I finally threw three sheets to the wind when the chocolate sauce made it from my plate to my sweater and eventually to my lap. I’m glad Lindsay got to meet the real Claudia. And I’m glad she liked me, chocolate-covered and all.

It’s women like Lindsay who make me proud of my genetic makeup and proud to be apart of the young, vibrant BRCA community. We are so full of life, because we know just how precious it is. We have been forced to come face-to-face with our mortality long before many of our contemporaries. But rather than shying away in fear from our BRCA mutations, we’ve learned to embrace mortality and milk it for all it’s worth, not wasting a single drop. Lindsay’s passion for life shines so brightly, showing the way for other young women on the path to defying their destinies. While there are times when it is difficult to recognize the consequences of carrying a dangerous mutation in every single cell that gives me life, the fact that this mutation brought me to Lindsay and other young women in the Bright Pink family makes it all so worth it.

Lindsay, I love you. Thank you for everything.