Dr. Kathleen T. Ruddy, a breast cancer surgeon, created the Breast Health & Healing Foundation in April 2008 when, after years treating patients, she came to the realization that working toward a "cure" was simply not enough.

She realized that even if she could cure every single woman with breast cancer, there would still be hundreds of new cases every day — more than a million new cases around the world each year. No, "cure" was not enough.

Dr. Ruddy knew there were plenty of breast cancer foundations, some of them very powerful. Undaunted by the prospects of competing with giants, Dr. Ruddy pressed on, because THIS FOUNDATION IS DIFFERENT.  Dr. Ruddy is looking for the causes of breast cancer —  the "pure cure."

Dr. Ruddy realized that despite the fact that the world was awash in pink ribbons it was, nevertheless, time for a CHANGE. It was time for a new way of thinking about breast cancer: it was time to discover the causes of breast cancer and use that knowledge to prevent the disease.

In her own words, "We must find the causes of breast cancer, and we must use this knowledge to prevent the disease."

Dr. Ruddy's journey in the fight against breast cancer began in 1973, when her own mother was diagnosed with the disease. Dr. Ruddy's career over the past thirty-five years has continued her unrelenting quest to understand the nature of this disease. 

Dr. Ruddy created the Breast Service at Clara Maass Medical Center in 1995. She has cared for thousands of women with breast disease, and she has helped cure hundreds of women with breast cancer. Despite her successes, and despite the successes of the medical community, Dr. Ruddy knows that "cure" — treatment — is not enough.

Unlike other foundations that are primarily focused on finding cures for breast cancer, the Breast Health & Healing Foundation seeks to discover its causes. In a world where over a million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year it only makes sense to finally answer the question, "Why are all of these women getting breast cancer?"

Once we understand the causes of breast cancer we will be able to prevent the disease. Doesn't this make sense? Won't this save more lives, as well as money? Why not discover the causes of breast cancer and spare women the torment of spending the rest of their lives trying to find a cure?

While we continue to care diligently and compassionately for those women who have breast cancer, and while we continue to work hard to find cures for them, the Breast Health & Healing Foundation adds a new perspective and a fresh approach.

It's about time…to discover the causes of breast cancer.  It's about time for the pure cure.

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The Theresa Quilt is dedicated to, and inspired by Dr. Kathleen Ruddy's mother, Theresa Garruto Ruddy, who is a breast cancer survivor.

Theresa Garruto graduated Red Bank Catholic High School in 1948 and took a job as a bookkeeper at the Prudential Life Insurance Company in Newark, New Jersey where she bid her time, waiting for Mr. Right. Theresa met Dr. Ruddy's father, John Joseph Ruddy, on the train from Red Bank to Newark, where he was enrolled in the New Jersey Institute of Technology, studying to become an airline pilot (his boyhood dream).

Theresa Garruto was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1974 at the age of forty-four, the year before Betty Ford made breast cancer famous. Breast cancer treatments were still pretty much on the dark side of the moon at this time. During that era, there was only shock and awe and fear. Theresa Garruto Ruddy had a modified radical instead of a radical mastectomy; and she never suffered with lymphedema. Thank God. She is currently a thirty-four year survivor. Thank God, again.

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