Support Breast Cancer Care and Research at The Spielman Center

At 37 years old, Erika Bray felt a lump in her breast. As a mother of two daughters, she assumed it was connected to breastfeeding a year prior. With no family history of cancer, that never crossed her mind.

Bray has deep ties to Ohio State. It’s where she earned her undergraduate degree and met her husband as a freshman. Years later they had engagement photos taken at Mirror Lake. They had their daughters at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

She didn’t hesitate turning to Ohio State for tests and was diagnosed with stage 3 HER2-positive breast cancer.

The caregivers at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center helped Erika understand her early breast cancer diagnosis, as most women don’t start getting mammograms until the age of 40.

“I broke down and thought that was it. I was going to die and leave my young daughters without a mother. However, the nurses at the Spielman Center could not have been more supportive,” Bray says. “They told me, ‘you are going to be okay.’ They told me there is so much research and targeted treatments for the type of cancer I had.”

She worked closely with medical oncologist Robert Wesolowski, MD, and surgical oncologist and clinical geneticist Doreen Agnese, MD, at the Spielman Center. Her care team considered the latest research and innovative treatments along with traditional care to give her a personalized treatment plan. Bray has participated in clinical trials to ensure that her journey can help others in the future.

"I consider my whole care team at the Spielman Center my heroes. They saved my life,” Bray says. 

Bray celebrated five years cancer-free in June 2025.

“I was told that if I had gotten this diagnosis five or six years earlier, it could have been a terminal sentence. That still haunts me,” Bray says. “We’re lucky that breast cancer research has come a long way and many breast cancers end in good long-life outcomes. It's still, unfortunately, killing many women and more are young woman under 40.”

Research and targeted treatment are evolving at the Spielman Center every day. With the support of donors and advocates, life-saving treatments are accessible to all who need them. Erika Bray and others are reaching cancer- free milestones because of the generosity of Buckeye donors like you.

Join us in giving today, so that Erika Bray and others like her will have a bright future to look forward to.