Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Education Center, Inc.

The Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Education Center, Inc was initially created in December, 2022 to honor the legacy and memory of Bridget Flynn Nesko, BSN, RN, who lost her life on November 28, 2022 to the ravages of ovarian cancer. She was only 55 years of age. 

Overcoming many challenges during her brief lifetime, Bridget achieved remarkable career success as a cardiac nurse in healthcare and healthcare education, as well as in community news publishing and broadcasting. In everything she did, Bridget demonstrated her deep love, concern and commitment to family, friends, patients and total strangers who sought her help.

Early signs of Bridget’s ovarian cancer were present as much as six years prior to her diagnosis but went misunderstood, undetected and untreated by her various primary care medical team members. For years, Bridget suffered from growing symptoms until her cancer reached a critical “stage 3C” when officially diagnosed in February of 2021, culminating in the premature and unnecessary loss of her life just 21 months later.

The core objectives behind creating this organization are simple:

• To empower women presenting with the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer to be referred to the right, best medical professionals as fast as possible when ovarian cancer - or other gynecologic cancers - are suspected;
• To do so by making sure that all US primary care medical practitioners (primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) become and remain acutely aware of ovarian cancer in their daily practice, including the need to refer patients as quickly as possible to appropriate, qualified specialists in the practice of gynecologic oncology;
• To ensure that women can record, track and provide written documentation about the symptoms they are experiencing to their primary care medical teams, helping to more quickly facilitate evaluation, appropriate referral and diagnosis, and;
• To provide accurate, unbiased information, guidance and support to women, caretakers and families impacted by ovarian cancer.

At Bridget's request and to honor her work, our organization is committed to defying ovarian cancer by:

• Providing and promoting ovarian cancer education, awareness and certification to the primary care medical community, the public, the media and elected officials through the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Education Center, and;
• Working to defy ovarian cancer’s impact on victims, caregivers, and their families through access to complete and comprehensive information, testing, intervention, treatment and (as needed) end-of-life support for victims and their families.

Working in cooperation with the "Men in Teal" (Men in Teal - MIT, Incorporated) nonprofit organization, we help in recruiting men who have joined a loved one through the ovarian cancer journey, provide them with education about ovarian cancer and the pitfalls of late diagnosis, and support them as they work at the local, state and national levels to encourage Primary Care Practitioners to become certified in Ovarian Cancer Early Awareness. They can do so by taking the simple but directed, free, remote training course called the "Gilda Radner Ovarian Cancer Early Intervention Initiative". Through this course, practitioners become acutely aware of what they need to know, the right and best questions to ask, the right testing to employ, and the quick and appropriate referral of patients suspected of having ovarian cancer (or another gynecologic cancer) to an experienced gynecologic oncologist.

It is our intent to avoid duplication of activities provided by other qualified nonprofit gynecologic cancer organizations, including research funding, access to genetic testing and direct financial support to victims undergoing ovarian cancer treatment.  Instead, we promote - and in some cases help fund - those services, and we work with those organizations under a cooperative agreement to provide ovarian cancer victims and their families with access at no cost.