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Putting the Brakes on Breast Cancer

Throughout Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Young Automotive (youngautomotive.net) in Sturgeon Bay – and more than 100 other independent auto repair shops across the country and NAPA Auto Parts – are teaming up to raise money for a breast cancer vaccine through the Brakes for Breasts fundraiser.

As part of the fundraiser, the auto repair facilities are giving away free, quality brake pads. Customers pay for the labor and any necessary ancillary parts; then the shops donate 10 percent of the brake jobs to Dr. Vincent Tuohy and the Cleveland Clinic Breast Cancer Vaccine Research Fund. Of those donations, 100 percent goes directly to this research.

This year marks the eighth year of the Brakes for Breasts fundraiser. In 2011, the first year, five shops in Ohio raised $10,000. In 2018, 138 independent auto repair shops in 34 states and two countries raised more than $140,000. To date, the donation total is nearly $750,000.

This fundraiser differs from other breast cancer fundraising campaigns in that Dr. Tuohy at the Cleveland Clinic has created a vaccine that has proved effective in preventing breast cancer in laboratory animals. Tuohy and his team hope to start Phase 1 trials in early 2020.

To learn more about the breast cancer vaccine, Tuohy and a list of participating shops, visit brakesforbreasts.org.

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