In 1989, Andrea Ravinett Martin was diagnosed
with breast cancer. The physician told her to put her affairs in order. Instead, Martin fought back against the cancer
with the same fierce determination and resolve for winning she applied each time she met face-to-face with one of
life's obstacles. She defeated breast cancer but the fight was not over. In 1992, Martin started the Breast Cancer Fund in her living room with a mission to transform the breast
cancer epidemic from a private secret to a public health priority. The Breast Cancer Fund advocates for the elimination
of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer. In 1995, Martin, with 17 other breast cancer survivors,
climbed Mt. Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western hemisphere. The climbing team raised more than $1 million
dollars.In 2000, Andrea launched the Obsessed With Breasts ad campaign to reveal the truth about breast cancer by showed beautiful models with Andrea's own mastectomy scars superimposed over the model's breasts. The awareness campaign ignited controversy and comment around the world. In June 2001, twelve years after her first breast cancer diagnosis, she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. By now, her family and friends assumed she would conquer this cancer as well.
"I thought that when you were the founder and executive director of a huge cancer foundation, you were somehow immune to the dangers you were battling. I thought you weren't allowed to get sick, like there was some rule about it. But in reality, my mom is never big on following rules in the first place. So, really, why should she start now?" stated Mather, Martin's daughter.
After Martin learned that her brain tumor had become very aggressive, she traveled to New York to bring attention to the personal pollution we all carry in our bodies with a New York Times ad that read: "Warning -- Andrea Martin contains 59 cancer-causing industrial chemicals." As she told an interviewer, "My body is a record of the environmental history of my life."
On August 6, 2003, Andrea Ravinett Martin, 57, lost her life to brain cancer. The Breast Cancer Fund continues on, in her memory, and with her fighting spirit, advocating for the elimination of environmental and other preventable causes of breast cancer.
