PLANTATION, Fla. — A 17-year-old student at American Heritage Schools in Broward County has been leading a nonprofit organization to help save women’s lives in her native Ukraine.

Isabel Gurvitch, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, is the chief executive officer of MammogramMe, a nonprofit organization with chapters in the U.S. and Europe.

Through a partnership with Adonis, a private healthcare network in Ukraine, the nonprofit fundraises to cover the cost of 30 mammograms per month and support for a breast cancer patient’s treatment.

“We’re helping Tatiana right now. Tatiana is a mother of two and a grandmother. She’s a wife, and unfortunately, she was diagnosed with stage II breast cancer, and right now, what we’re doing is we’re paying for her treatment,” Isabel said. “She’s getting a lumpectomy and then radiation.”

Isabel co-founded the nonprofit in 2023 with Mahika Jassal, a student at the American School of Warsaw in Poland who serves as the nonprofit’s chief financial officer.

“They did it all on their own, completely. And, it continues, and continues, and continues, and I’m beyond proud that they’re doing it,” Isabel’s mother, Anna Gurvitch, said.

The teens’ friendship started when they were 4th-grade classmates in Kyiv and continued despite their separation after Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Anna Gurvitch said she was diagnosed with breast cancer during a routine checkup, and her experience helped her to see how women in Ukraine really need both education and resources.

“They don’t want to definitely spend money on their health because they have a lot of places to spend money,” Gurvitch said.

Isabel said she feels the urgency since mammograms are “essential” healthcare.

“There are so many different kinds of breast cancers out there. It’s not just the one that most women expect to feel a lump,” Isabel said. “There’s invasive lobular carcinoma where you don’t even feel a lump until you’re around stage four.”

Isabel, an aspiring gynecologist, asked the public to think about the women they love and how they can inspire them to help support her mission.

“There’s always a woman in your life that you’re afraid to lose, and someone might lose, hurt, just because they can’t afford a mammogram,” Isabel said.

For more information about the nonprofit and how to contribute, visit this page.

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