Corrie Painter

When Corrie Painter, a PhD student in the laboratory of Lawrence Stern, PhD, professor of pathology and biochemistry & molecular pharmacology, received a diagnosis of breast cancer, she was devastated. That her particular malignancy, angiosarcoma, is extremely rare and insidious made it even worse: Only about 300 people a year are diagnosed with this form of cancer, and 70 percent die within five years.

She and her husband, Ted, at first were paralyzed by the grim statistics. But they quickly decided to get busy living. “Nobody’s guaranteed any specific amount of time. But we are able to do unique things with the time we have. We decided to fight this thing,” said Painter.

Painter and friends created a nonprofit corporation to raise funds for angiosarcoma research. A fundraiser for Angiosarcoma Awareness Inc. will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4, from noon to 5:30 p.m., at the Italian American Victory Club, 26 Dewey Road, Shrewsbury. For information, to make a donation or to purchase tickets, visit www.angiosarcomaawareness.org.

Learn more about Painter in this video, produced by the UMass Medical School Office of Communications.