The establishment of Bosom Buddies Charities, Inc., and the Bosom Buddies Ball is the fulfillment of a long-time dream of Queen Anne’s County resident Susan Ponchock.

After surviving the diagnosis of an aggressive type of breast cancer, the trauma of surgery and stem cell transplant, chemotherapy and radiation, Susan made a vow to “give back.”

She recognized the enormous role everyone in her life—from medical staff to family and friends—played in her physical and mental recovery, and she wanted to help others, who suffer from breast cancer, to obtain the happy ending she had.

It took a few years to develop her plan, but in the Fall of 2006, Susan gathered 20 powerful women and as they shared ideas and experiences they came to embrace her “vision” and Bosom Buddies Charities came to life.

The focus is local and the attitude is to celebrate life.

The Bosom Buddies Ball is the Charity’s main fundraiser. Held in January, it is an elegant black-tie evening, with a top-notch band, lots of dancing, a delicious meal and an extraordinary auction.

THANKS A MILLION!

The community has rallied around this charity and the Bosom Buddies Ball. In just five years, Bosom Buddies Charities has raised $1 million and has been able to donate a digital mammography machine and handheld ultra-sound imaging equipment for the Anne Arundel Medical Center on Kent Island.

We funded the build-out of the Kent Island Breast Center and are offering monthly support group meetings for breast cancer survivors there.

We are also supporting other service groups, such as the Red Devils, to better meet the needs of breast cancer patients in our area.

We are particularly proud to be sponsoring a Survivor Retreat this Fall and funding a major ad campaign in October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, to remind women to get their mammograms.

Bosom Buddies Charities, as Susan and her committee have envisioned it, is here to stay. Its members are determined to make a difference in breast cancer survival statistics in Queen Anne’s County and to educate and raise awareness in people of all ages, men and women alike, of the importance of early detection.