Diana Napper remembers the phone call from her best friend telling her that she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. “I said, ‘Oh, you always got mammograms,’” Napper recalled. “‘I’m sure you’ll be fine.’”
But less than a year later, her friend, Carol Jo Weiss Friedman, died from cancer at age 50.
Napper had begun designing jewelry and, shortly before she died in 1990, Friedman asked her to design a bracelet that would fund a hospice in her honor.
Napper tried. She sold some of the bracelets she designed and raised some money. Eventually, however, she realized her interests lay in improving the lives of cancer patients more broadly than hospice care. And she realized there were much more effective ways of raising money than selling jewelry.
In the nearly 30 years since Napper officially founded A Glimmer of Hope, in 1994, the nonprofit has raised more than $6 million for breast cancer treatment, equipment and research, with all of the money staying in the Pittsburgh area.
“Our mission has totally changed,” said Napper. “It’s like a whirlwind — as we started spinning, we started picking up all these projects.”
Napper found quick success raising money with the cooperation of area sports teams. She happened to be friends with Brendan Stai, who played for the Pittsburgh Steelers at the time. He suggested bringing in (former Steeler) Alan and Julie Faneca to help with fundraising.
The Fanecas became instrumental in helping her launch the Bid for Hope gala, which has grown into an annual formal event with support from Steelers players and major corporations such as 84 Lumber and PNC Bank. Just through Bid for Hope, the foundation has raised nearly $3 million — with the Fanecas still involved in the event.
Napper, 66, of McCandless, also has worked with the Pittsburgh Pirates on the Pitch for Hope women’s baseball clinic for more than a decade.
With the money that the foundation has raised, she has found numerous ways to improve the lives of Pittsburghers diagnosed with breast cancer.
In 2014, Allegheny Health Network became the first hospital in the nation to install an advanced 3D mammogram system now used around the world, paid for with a grant from A Glimmer of Hope.
At UPMC, A Glimmer of Hope funded a program that expedites care for young women diagnosed with breast cancer, getting them help with issues unique to them such as fertility preservation and managing child care.
“The funding that they’ve given us for the pre-menopausal program has helped us streamline and personalize care for a group of women who really need that help,” said Emilia Diego, division chief for breast surgery and co-director of the UPMC Hillman Center/Magee Womens Hospital breast cancer program. “They have helped transform breast cancer care for the local community in a very positive way.”
Other major A Glimmer of Hope initiatives include the Glimmer of Hope Metastatic Breast Cancer Center at Allegheny General Hospital, which opened in 2020 and provides centralized care to women with metastatic breast cancer — cancer that has spread from the primary site — including a collaborative nurse who accompanies patients to all of their appointments and integrative medicine services such as acupuncture.
A new program through UPMC is allowing women under 40 to receive mammograms, even if they aren’t covered by insurance. “You get a pap smear when you are 21,” said Napper. “Why can’t you get a screening for your breasts?”
Napper takes pride in supporting both UPMC and AHN, noting that even though they are competitive, the health systems are able to work together to support what is best for patients.
More recently, A Glimmer of Hope has gotten involved in funding clinical research. One study with the Magee-Womens Research Institute and UPMC Hillman Cancer Center is now investigating a new technology for monitoring breast cancer from a blood draw, also known as a ‘liquid biopsy.’
In March, Diego got coffee with Napper and mentioned that she and other colleagues at UPMC were hoping to test a breast cancer vaccine, but were having trouble securing funding.
By Memorial Day, Napper had run the idea by her advisory board and committed to give her $100,000 in seed money to get the study off the ground. With that seed money in hand, the group has secured an additional $2.2 million grant from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation for the vaccine trial, which Diego is hoping to get underway by the end of the year.
“I think of her as almost like the venture capital angel,” said Diego. “She’s the one who is starting the whole process of getting this off the ground.”
Besides funding more research, Napper also is hoping to do more outreach to underserved communities and to improve screening for younger women in the Pittsburgh area.
“Our supporters love the fact that the money stays here,” said Napper. “They love that if they donate something to us, they can see the results in the community.”
Anya Sostek: asostek@post-gazette.com
First Published: October 24, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: October 24, 2023, 9:49 p.m.
