What Is Her Secret?

Join Marisa Miller to Support Young Survivors of Breast Cancer

Before Marisa met up with jewelry designer Marnie Greenwood, she figured breast cancer wasn't her problem. "My mentality was, when I'm 40, I'll start getting mammograms," she says. "I had no idea how many young women get the disease."

Then Greenwood told her about her Peace, Love, Cure campaign, which raises money for the Young Survival Coalition, a nonprofit group that provides support to young women with breast cancer. YSC was formed in 1998 by three breast cancer survivors diagnosed before age 35. "Doctors were still saying that breast cancer didn't happen to young women," says CEO Michele Przypyszny. "And we thought, Then how can women get help?"

Now, in addition to supporting Peace, Love, Cure, Marisa serves as an ambassador for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program. Today, in part thanks to the advocacy of Peace, Love, Cure and YSC, awareness is spreading. But the disease is as deadly as ever among this demographic. "About 11,000 to 14,000 women under 40 are diagnosed every year," says Przypyszny, "and about 1,400 die." Youngsurvival.org receives 250,000 hits every month, mainly from survivors looking for support. Says Przypyszny, "It's charities like Peace, Love, Cure that allow us to keep helping these women."