Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. – This year’s two Day of Hope ambassadors are urging the Central Coast community to help support local cancer patients during this week’s fundraiser.
The ambassadors for this year’s 12th annual Day of Hope are Denise Villarete of Orcutt, who is representing Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria center, and Anna Sosnowski of Arroyo Grande, who is representing the Mission Hope Cancer Center in Arroyo Grande.
Both women are nurses and are cancer patients who are still receiving treatment at the centers they are each representing.
For Villarete, she’s been battling ovarian cancer since being diagnosed with the disease in spring 2024.
“My case is a little bit different with my father being a BRCA2 mutation carrier with his cancer,” said Villarete, describing her father, who died of cancer. “I did know that, so in the back of my mind, I knew I had a 50/50 chance that I would also develop cancer at some point in my life. With that knowledge, knowing in the background, when you hear you have a mass and you’re not quite sure what it is that does go through your head a little bit, which does in a sense prepare you for that kind of news versus it being blindsided out of the blue.”
Soon after she was diagnosed, Villarete began what has turned into a very long period of treatment to battle the disease.”
“It started with having surgery,” said Villarete. “And then from there, after about a month of recovery, I did start chemotherapy here at Mission Hope. It was a four month chemotherapy session. One day every three weeks, for the four month duration. After that, while during that chemo session, I was also added, another medication, Avastin and those infusions would proceed for another year and a half.”
Over the past two years, Villarete has undergone a slew of surgeries and treatment and is nearing the finish line of medication.
“I’ve been cancer free for two years, and with the treatment that I’ve received here at Mission Hope that is what’s entitled me to be able to do that and say that,” said Villarete. “The cancer free diagnosis was just amazing and obviously something that we had worked hard to achieve.”
Sosnowski is battling breast cancer, which was diagnosed last August while she was nursing the youngest of her three children.
“They ended up having to do a biopsy,” said Sosnowski. “It ended up coming back positive for breast cancer and it also had traveled to my lymph nodes as well, so I was stage two at the time of diagnosis.”
Over the past year, Sosnowski has received most of her treatment at Mission Hope in Arroyo Grande, being backed she said through the support of her family, work and crew at the cancer center.
“I kind of went through the whole gamut of everything I did chemo, radiation, I did a double mastectomy,” said Sosnowski. “I still have two surgeries pending, but it was it was a journey, that’s for sure. It was a scary experience, but being supported by that staff was just hands down the best, the best thing that could have happened because I don’t know what I would have done without them.”
Now, about a year later, Sosnowski is moving forward with a positive outlook with her recovery.
“It’s nice to have the majority of it behind me,” said Sosnowski. “Obviously, chemo is rough and radiation and surgery. I still have one to two more surgeries to do. I have to do a reconstruction and they’re going to take my ovaries out just to prevent distant recurrence. After all the medication will be done because they’ll have me on medication for about ten years, so that’s still pending, but honestly, I’m feeling great.”
As the Day of Hope ambassadors, the two women are sharing their stories to inspire community members to take part in the Day of Hope, which raises funds to directly benefit patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center.
The Day of Hope was created in 2014 and specifically raises funds for patients at Mission Hope Cancer Center in Santa Maria and Arroyo Grande.
Over the past 11 years, the Day of Hope has collected more than $2 million through generous community donations.
On Wednesday, Aug 27, starting at 7 a.m., hundreds of volunteers will be located throughout the Santa Maria Valley and in South San Luis Obispo County at dozens street corners, intersections, parking lots, schools, churches and other highly visible locations.
Participating teams members will once again be selling special edition $1 Santa Maria Times newspapers.
Proceeds specifically helps the cancer center provide patients with a myriad of complimentary programs and services.
For more information about the car show or the upcoming Day of Hope, click here to visit the official webpage.
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