Lindsay Giannobile, 29, never thought she’d be a poster child for a cancer slogan, but a breast cancer diagnosis when she was 28 proved her wrong.
“When I share my experience I hope to raise awareness, promote early detection and maybe even save a life,” said Giannobile while sharing her fight against breast cancer at the Stefanie Spielman Benefit Dinner Thursday evening at the Ohio Union.
The event, put on by the Chimes Junior Class Honorary and the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, was open to Ohio State students, faculty and the Columbus community. By selling tickets for the banquet and a raffle, $505 was raised for the Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research.
“Raising money for research is so important,” Giannobile said. “It provides us hope. We have these brilliant scientists out there that are dedicated to finding a cure 24 hours a day and there is no doubt that they are not going to stop until they find one.”
Lindsay Cannon, a third-year in neuroscience and psychology and the Chimes service chair, said she hopes the banquet will become an annual event. Although Cannon said she was pleased with the amount of money it raised, she hopes the event will receive a better turnout next year. There were about 40 people in a room set for more than 90.
“I was a little disappointed,” Cannon said. “We were late with advertising the event, so considering that, I’m OK with it. We would definitely like for it to be bigger next year though.”
Giannobile said that as a young, healthy adult from a family without a history of having cancer, she was shocked when she was diagnosed with stage 3 invasive carcinoma at age 28.
“I am sure you have heard the slogan that cancer doesn’t discriminate, and I feel that I am the poster child for that slogan,” Giannobile said. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how old you are or your family history. It doesn’t matter if you exercise, eat right and live a healthy lifestyle. It can happen to anyone.”
Giannobile’s emphasis of the fact that cancer can happen to anyone resonated with Todd Starkey, a third-year in chemical engineering.
“When you think of cancer, you don’t think of youth and health. She was the total example of cancer not discriminating,” Starkey said. “She was very relatable.”
The Stefanie Spielman Fund for Breast Cancer Research was founded by former OSU linebacker Chris Spielman and his late-wife. Stefanie Spielman died in November 2009 while fighting a fifth bout with breast cancer. More than $10 million has been raised in Stefanie Spielman’s honor to support cancer research and patient care at the Arthur G. James Cancer Research Center at OSU.