Gina Maisano was diagnosed with triple negative IDC in September of 2001. At that time there was no information whatsoever about estrogen and progesterone receptor negative breast cancer other than the standard line that appeared in every breast cancer book and online resource that read: "Women without estrogen and progesterone receptors have a poor prognosis and die sooner.” This was unacceptable to a young woman who was determined to fight her disease with only one goal in mind: beating it.

She began her own research. She reached out to other breast cancer patients and started to mentor women online while she herself was still in treatment. This began to grow and her outreach spread across many breast cancer websites. Her mission was to not only empower women to be their own best advocates but to also never accept grim prognoses and roll over to a fate dictated by doctors working with twenty year old stats. She wanted to offer hope. As a result, the women who had been coached by the person known on the web as " No Surrender," began to coach other women who were newly diagnosed with her philosophy and they too became empowered and learned how to fight their disease, their doctors and their insurance companies.

Now, almost seven years past her "grim prognosis" of triple negative disease, "No Surrender," Gina Maisano, has remained free of her triple negative cancer. She started a website called nosurrenderbreastcancerhelp.com and hosts a very active message forum with members from across America to the UK, Israel, New Zealand and Japan.

She was diagnosed with a new primary breast cancer in February of 2007 in the opposite breast. This time, it was a completely different breast cancer from the first. It was lobular and also estrogen and progesterone positive. She underwent chemotherapy and surgery once again, and continued to counsel women through every step of her journey. Her zeal for empowering women has been strengthened and fortified and she is reaching out to even more women, written a book about how to fight and survive breast cancer and is a frequent contributor to Mamm Magazine.

Gina Maisano is determined to offer hope to every woman who has been told she has triple negative disease. Even if it takes one patient at a time, she will do whatever she can to help change the face of "negative" and remind women to never give in, and never, ever surrender.

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