Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Education Center

The Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Education Center 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”, 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 get women presenting with the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer in front of the right, best medical professionals as quickly as possible when ovarian cancer - or other gynecologic cancers - are suspected;
• To do so by making sure that primary care medical practitioners (primary care physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants) remain acutely aware of ovarian cancer in their daily practice, including the need to refer patients as quickly as possible to appropriate, qualified specialists;
• To enable women to record, track and provide written documentation about the symptoms they are experiencing to their primary care medical teams, helping to more quickly facilitate evaluation and diagnosis, and;
• To provide accurate, unbiased information, guidance and support to women, caretakers and families impacted by ovarian cancer.

At Bridget's dying request and to honor Bridget's 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 and the media 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 information, evaluation, testing, intervention, treatment and (as needed) end-of-life support for victims and their families.

Through private funding from our founder, Bridget's husband established a number of programs to honor Bridget Nesko's memory and her accomplishments, including perpetual programs at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and at Samaritan Healthcare and Hospice in New Jersey. 

We also support other nonprofit organizations which demonstrate their commitment to the fight against ovarian cancer by the public-facing work they do in the communities they serve.  Under certain conditions, private funding is used to award financial educational stipends to children of families impacted by ovarian cancer, and is used to provide grief and bereavement counseling services to individuals and families impacted by the loss of a loved one to ovarian cancer.

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.