For the last three years, I’ve been completely immersed in the world of previvors. I’ve spent hours upon hours listening to the stories of Lisa Marton, Mayde Wiener, Amy Rosenthal, Rori Clark, and Suzanne Citere which were heart-breaking and moving, but also inspirational and uplifting. I’ve attended several FORCE conferences, where I met women who were desperate to learn about their risk and utterly confused about what to do about. I spoken with remarkable women like Sue Friedman and Lindsay Avner who truly have given previvors tremendous resources as well as outlets to share their fears and concerns. (Resources and outlets that, until recently, didn’t exist.) I’ve interviewed dozens of medical experts who said that the options need to get even better for previvors, and their hope that the tide would soon change.

Well, it looks like it just might.

The House of Representatives just voted in favor of declaring the last week of September “National Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Week.” And the last Wednesday of the month? National Previvor Day! This is such thrilling news for the previvor community. By bringing previvors into the forefront on such a national level, researchers will likely start focusing more of their time, effort, and financial resources on finding ways to help high-risk women fight cancer before it strikes.

By having a National Previvor Day, it’s as though government has said to previvors, “We hear you, we recognize you, and we take your concerns seriously.” And if it weren’t for Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, FORCE, Bright Pink, and the Young Survival Coalition, this would have never happened. They couldn’t receive enough thanks. I am so happy for previvors. Your day has come!