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For those of you wondering how Gina DePalma, pastry chef of Mario Batali’s Babbo and the object of tribute for our O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month contest is doing, she is currently going through her last rounds of chemo, and although she has been “feeling super cruddy,” her spirit remains as strong as ever; Gina insists that “[i]t’s all good, though, and as long as it kills cancer, I am down with being bald, nauseous and tired!!”

Isn’t she amazing?

Here is a note she sent to Jenn, Michelle, and me after following the O Foods contest:

The O Foods event was simply amazing. I don’t really know how to tell you how much this has meant to me. I am showing your websites and the round ups to the team at my hospital - Mount Sinai Medical Center - later today when I get my weekly blood test. When I told them about it, they were so excited and happy to see such a strong show of support for ovarian cancer. We all agree that there simply isn’t enough attention to this awful disease. There is a direct correlation between the tremendous amount of public attention and funding given to breast cancer in the last decade and the vast improvement in survival rates. Now, we really need to do the same thing for ovarian cancer. I am super selfish. I want to live, so I want there to be an ocean of teal out there along with the sea of pink.

Mount Sinai’s team is the biggest and best gynecological oncology group in the Northeast, and is quickly becoming one of the best in the country. My doctor is the chief investigator in the nationwide drug trial I am enrolled in. As soon as I start to feel better, I am going to start some efforts at raising funds for my team, so they can continue to expand their research in both prevention and treatment. I’ll have more information on that, and maybe we can put something together in the spring. Mount Sinai is launching a new support website for ovarian cancer patients, and maybe we can do a round-up of the recipes for them to put on it!

Ladies, I wish I could find the words to express the love I have in my heart for you. Please, please post my eternal gratitude to everyone who participated on your websites. I am sorry I am so weak and that typing is so hard for me right now, or I would hit each blog myself.

Thanks for being such good friends to me and to all the women out there who have ovarian cancer, feeling a bit lost and forgotten. It means eveything to know that you and so many others care!

With love,
~Gina

With much love from our side, too, Gina!

Maybe we’ll be able to help Mount Sinai with an e-book of the O Foods recipes….stay tuned! You can still help by donating to the O Foods for Ovarian Cancer Awareness page on FirstGiving