Era of Hope 2011 Plenary Sessions

Session Title: Closing Session – Bringing New Ideas into Reality

Title of Presentation: Moment of Silence for Carolina Hinestrosa

Fran Visco, Esq., National Breast Cancer Coalition: Good morning and welcome to the second day of the sixth Era of Hope Conference. I’m Fran Visco; I’m a 24-year breast cancer survivor, President of the National Breast Cancer Coalition and a member of the Integration Panel of the DoD Program.

As you know, we start each day with a moment of silence. Many of you knew Carolina Hinestrosa and you know that she was extraordinary. I’m honored to say that the DoD Program agreed to dedicate this Era of Hope Conference to the life of Carolina Hinestrosa.

I want to tell you a bit about her. The program gives you some of the facts and you should know that she was a Fulbright Scholar, an economist, very accomplished woman, but I want to tell you about Carolina. She loved to dance. She was petite but incredibly strong and courageous. She was always willing to say the truth to anyone in power. No one intimidated her.

When she was testifying before Congress, which she did many times on behalf of this program and other breast cancer issues or at the FDA or speaking at a conference to world-renowned scientists or meeting with the Head of the National Cancer Institute, she was steel, with a natural elegance and grace. She was all of those things, and she was passionate about our mission and compassionate about the issues.

She often told me that she wanted to make certain that her daughter Isabel had a different life. She would often challenge scientists with this question; what will you do to make the world better for Isabel? And you should know that Isabel is studying to be a molecular biologist because she told me her goal is to end breast cancer.

Carolina founded Nueva Vita, which is the support group network for Latino women with breast cancer, and she brought that group to the National Breast Cancer Coalition and joined our Board and then our staff as Executive Vice President. She sat on many institutive medicine committees and committees at the NCI, and of course she gave so very much to this program because she very much believed in it.

She was our conscience. When the Integration Panel would meet to make decisions she often would say we must treat this money as though it were the last money we would ever get to spend on breast cancer. What would you do with that? She was always up for every challenge. She was never too busy. Nothing was ever too hard for her. She was serious and she was funny. And we all envied the fact that she could eat every dessert at the buffet and never gain a pound.

At the last Era of Hope Meeting, Carolina stood at the podium to open the meeting and to dedicate it to Karen Noss another incredible advocate who died of her breast cancer while she was Chair of the Integration Panel. Carolina died in June 2009 as a result of the soft tissue sarcoma caused by her treatment for breast cancer while acting as the Chair of the Integration Panel.

She would want me to tell you that we need to do more for Isabel and for all of us. She would want me to ask each of you to consider what you are doing that will make a real difference for all of us so that we no longer lose women, so that we no longer have an Era of Hope but rather an Era of Action and then an Era of Celebration because we’ve ended breast cancer.

There was only one Carolina Hinestrosa and I ask you to join me in a moment of silence to honor Carolina’s memory. And now I ask you to join me in celebrating Carolina Hinestrosa’s life.