On April 3 at Central Public House more than 80 people gathered to watch a fashion show and lend their support to the development of a pre-screening tool to detect ovarian cancer. 

Organized by ovarian cancer survivors Marie Boyle and Kathy Mazur, all proceeds go to support the girlygirl P.A.R.T.S. foundation. This was the seventh fashion show the team has coordinated, having raised more than $200,000 since 2014.

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The event featured guest speaker Ursula Matulonis, MD. Dr. Matulonis is Chief of the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Her research focuses on developing new targeted therapies for gynecologic malignancies, with a specific interest in ovarian cancer and endometrial cancer.

Early detection of ovarian cancer is important because ovarian cancer often has no noticeable symptoms in its early stages. By the time symptoms develop, the cancer may have already spread beyond the ovaries, making it more difficult to treat and potentially reducing the chances of survival.

When ovarian cancer is detected early, however, it is more likely to be localized to the ovaries and nearby tissues, which means it can be treated more effectively with surgery and/or chemotherapy. In fact, studies have shown that women who are diagnosed with early-stage ovarian cancer have a much better prognosis than those diagnosed at a later stage.

The crowd was electrified as the models walked the runway, each of them a survivor of cancer. Swoon was a key sponsor of the event and provided all of the outfits.