Vault: Young Survivor Coalition For Breast Cancer Survivors under 40

Summary

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The Bert Show: Vault Episode - Young Survivor Coalition for Breast Cancer Survivors Under 40

Date: July 23, 2026
Guests: Courtney Bugler (Director, Atlanta Affiliate of Young Survival Coalition - YSC), Producer Tracy
Main Theme:
The episode spotlights the Young Survival Coalition (YSC), an organization focused on supporting young women (under 40) diagnosed with breast cancer. The Bert Show team partners with YSC to amplify awareness, share survivor stories, and promote the upcoming Tour de Pink fundraising event.

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Episode Overview

Hosts Bert and the team sit down with Courtney Bugler from YSC to unpack the unique challenges faced by young breast cancer survivors. Courtney shares her personal story, provides crucial educational insights, and details actionable ways the Atlanta community can get involved—including the Tour de Pink bike ride. The segment is rich with survivor stories, advocacy for medical awareness, and lighthearted banter in true Bert Show fashion.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Young Survival Coalition Mission & Courtney’s Story

• Courtney Bugler introduces YSC, a national organization specifically for women diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 and under.
• She shares her personal journey, diagnosed just after turning 29, highlighting how isolating it was as a young woman navigating resources typically tailored for older women.
  • Quote (01:38):

    "Myself as a young survivor who was diagnosed right after I turned 29 years old...it's an organization close to my heart."
    [Courtney Bugler, 01:38]

• YSC provides resources, support groups, education, and outreach, emphasizing empowerment and lasting connection.

2. Who YSC Supports & The Power of Peer Connection

• YSC officially serves anyone diagnosed under 40, but welcomes those diagnosed young even if now in their 40s or beyond.
• Seeing long-term survivors is especially uplifting for newly diagnosed women.
  • Quote (02:57):

    "There's nothing more that gives hope to a woman when she's diagnosed than to see a 20 or 30-year survivor."
    [Courtney Bugler, 02:57]

3. Stories of Being Overlooked Due to Age & The Need for Awareness

• Producer Tracy shares her experience: at age 23, her concerns were dismissed by doctors until she mentioned her mother's early diagnosis.
  • Quote (03:27):

    "Everybody just kept ignoring it, saying it was no big deal, until finally...I told them my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 20, and that's when they finally took me seriously."
    [Producer Tracy, 03:27]

• Courtney notes this is a common story—medical professionals often assume young women are "too young" for breast cancer.
• Only 15% of breast cancer cases have a family history; 85% of young women diagnosed have no family history.
  • Quote (04:03):

    "85% of all women have no family history. So it doesn't really matter... I had no family history. I guess I was just lucky that way."
    [Courtney Bugler, 04:03]

4. Stigma, Family History, and Outreach

• Family history discussions are important, yet complicated by generational stigma and lack of information.
  • Quote (04:36):

    "Cancer was...for many generations, something that was not talked about. Especially, you know, 'girl part cancer.'"
    [Courtney Bugler, 04:36]

• YSC works not only with survivors but also educates the medical community to prevent young women from being dismissed.

5. Tour de Pink – Fundraising & Community Event

• Tour de Pink: Atlanta’s only bike ride for breast cancer, October 16th.
  • Options for all: 4, 20, 50, or 100-mile routes, with the 4-mile loop suited for families, walkers, and children.
  • Fundraising minimum is $125—intentionally set low to increase participation.
  • Quote (06:12):

    "Tour de Pink is exciting. It is Atlanta's only bike ride for breast cancer...it's the largest community fighting breast cancer in young women."
    [Courtney Bugler, 06:12]

• Post-ride community celebration includes bands, food, shopping, and sponsor exhibits—all held at Perimeter Mall.
• Every dollar raised stays in the metro Atlanta area, directly funding support, education, and outreach.
  • Quote (08:47):

    "Everything that we raise here stays right here in the metro Atlanta area."
    [Courtney Bugler, 08:47]

6. Sponsors & Impact

• Major sponsors cover event costs so participant fundraising fully benefits YSC programs.
• Direct impact: newly diagnosed resource kits, provider education, and awareness campaigns in schools and the community.

7. Events & How to Get Involved

• Tour de Pink: October 16
• Kickoff Party: That evening at Crowne Plaza in Dunwoody, with free food, beverages, and registration perks.
• Registration and details at ysc.tourtopink.org and via The Bert Show website.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Courtney Bugler on Support:

  "If you are a young woman who's diagnosed and needs us, we are there from the moment of your diagnosis through the rest of your life."
  [02:41]

• On Age Myths in Medicine:

  "What we're seeing from our healthcare providers is that it's happening more and more, unfortunately...too many stories of women who are told, 'Don't worry about it, you're too young.'"
  [05:13]

• On Making Events Accessible:

  "If you want to bring out your couple of kids on their big wheels and their training wheels, you can come on out."
  [07:04]

• Banter:

  • (Joking about Bert riding a big wheel):
    "We'll paint it pink for you. And maybe put some tassels." [07:33]
    (Light, typical Bert Show humor blending with serious advocacy)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------| | 01:02 | Introduction of YSC and Courtney Bugler | | 01:38 | Courtney shares personal survivor story | | 03:27 | Producer Tracy’s early detection experience | | 04:03 | Courtney clarifies breast cancer family history | | 06:12 | Introduction to Tour de Pink | | 07:04 | Family-friendly aspects of Tour de Pink | | 08:47 | All funds remain local in metro Atlanta | | 10:14 | Tour de Pink event date and kickoff party details |

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Useful Links

• YSC Tour de Pink Registration: www.ysc.tourtopink.org
• The Bert Show: www.thebertshow.com

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Tone & Style

The episode balances heartfelt survivor stories and critical advocacy messages with the Bert Show’s trademark humor and camaraderie. The discussion feels authentic, fostering hope while challenging myths about breast cancer and age.

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Summary Takeaway

The Bert Show’s partnership with the Young Survival Coalition puts a spotlight on an underserved and misperceived group: young breast cancer survivors. With candid storytelling, educational insights, and a celebration of community action (Tour de Pink), the episode is a call to awareness, support, and direct involvement in the fight against breast cancer—no matter your age.

Transcript

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[Courtney Bugler]

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[Commercial Voice]

The bird show.

[Bert (Host)]

We are gonna be teaming up with young survivors coalition this year and we're proud to be doing it. And Courtney Bugler.

[Courtney Bugler]

That's me.

[Bert (Host)]

I got it right.

[Courtney Bugler]

Nice job.

[Bert (Host)]

Is here from the young survivors coalition to tell you what they're all about and it'll start to make sense to you why this is an organization that we've decided, you know what, this is one we gotta help out here.

[Courtney Bugler]

Well, thank you guys so much for having me. We're really excited to be a part of the Burt show and to be an official friend of the show. Now we're not there yet.

[Co-host or Guest]

We just like you on Facebook. We're not a fan yet.

[Courtney Bugler]

We'll have to keep bringing you presents then. Young survival coalition is actually a national organization dedicated specifically to young women with breast cancer and myself as a young survivor who was diagnosed right after I turned 29 years old. It's obviously an organization close to my heart and I'm the director of the Atlanta affiliate. And so we work here in the metro Atlanta area to provide resources, education, outreach and support to young women so they feel empowered and hopeful during their breast cancer journey as well. We work with the community as a whole to bring awareness to the fact that young women can and do get breast cancer. And we also work to in our community to make sure that young women know their bodies, understand the risk factors and perhaps also maybe talk to their families about. About their family history and maybe what they can do to get involved with awareness in young women.

[Bert (Host)]

The young survivors coalition, which means what ages are we talking about?

[Courtney Bugler]

It is officially those who are diagnosed 40 and younger, but I'll tell you sort of unofficially it's, you know, 40s. If you're. If you're a woman who walks into get your mammogram and everyone else looks like your mother and your grandmother, or if you walk into a support group and you're the only one who doesn't have gray hair, we're the, we're the group for you. So if you are a young woman who's diagnosed and needs us, we are there from the moment of your diagnosis through the rest of your life. If you are a woman who is a little bit older now but was diagnosed, you know, 10, 15, 20 years ago, we want to hear from you too. Because there's nothing more that gives hope to a woman when she's diagnosed than to see a 20 or 30 year survivor.

[Bert (Host)]

Didn't we kind of go through this with producer Tracy a couple of years ago where she found like a lump and like, the doctors were like, sort of putting her off because she's too young for this. I can't be right.

[Producer Tracy]

Yeah, I was like, I can't remember the age now, but I think I was like 23 maybe when I found something. And everybody just kept ignoring it, saying it was no big deal, until finally. I don't know why I didn't tell them sooner, but I told them my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 20, and that's when they finally took me seriously. Thankfully, it turned out to be nothing but me and my mother didn't have any prior history. So if nobody listened to her, who knows what would happen to her?

[Bert (Host)]

Is that a pretty common story you hear?

[Courtney Bugler]

It's all too common. And we are finding more and more younger and younger women. For example, in our last monthly networking meeting, we had three women who were diagnosed under the age of 23.

[Bert (Host)]

Wow.

[Courtney Bugler]

And what most people don't realize with breast cancer, no matter what the age is, 85% of all women have no family history. And so it doesn't really matter. I had no family history. There's no breast cancer, ovarian cancer, any sort of female related genetic cancer in my family for generations and generations. And I guess I was just lucky that way.

[Co-host or Guest]

Well, a lot of people don't know their family history. Like you said, it's about asking. But, you know, I mean, would your dad know about, like his mom's mom? Probably not, no.

[Courtney Bugler]

And especially what we. What I found when I was diagnosed is all too often because, you know, cancer was, you know, and for many generations, it was something that was not talked about. And especially, you know, girl part cancer and things like that. And so when I would go back in my family history, I realized more and more that there were some things there but nobody really knew. They knew that perhaps they had cancer. They didn't really know what kind. You know, obviously no one had records or anything like that. But the biggest thing that we like to say at YSC is that, you know, young women can and do get breast cancer. It is thankfully fairly rare, but it does happen. And what we're seeing from our healthcare providers is that it's happening more and more, unfortunately. And so one of our sort of big sort of research agendas is trying to find out nationally, you know, why this is happening and also work to advocate for young women because unfortunately, we hear still too many stories of women who are told, don't worry about it, you're too young. You know, come back in a year, we'll see you in six months. And unfortunately for some of those women, you know, that's the time that they need to be diagnosed at either an earlier stage or get the treatment that they need. So one of the big things that we do here in the local area is we do a lot of outreach to the medical community. And this year, in fact, part of what tour de pink is gonna be doing for us is we're gonna be doing a lot of outreach to OB GYNs and primary care doctors and kind of educating them on breast cancer in young women and making them realize that it's not just an older women's disease anymore.

[Bert (Host)]

There's so many messages here. So what is Tour de Pink? Okay, so that's where we're going to.

[Courtney Bugler]

Tour de Pink is exciting. It is Atlanta's only bike ride for breast cancer. And we are excited to have you all as a part of the event. It's October 16th, and what it's gonna be is it's the largest community fighting breast cancer in young women. And there are options to take part. It's a one day event. It's a relatively low fundraising minimum. What is it? It is $125.

[Bert (Host)]

Oh, that is really low.

[Courtney Bugler]

And we actually have some really great tools you're gonna be able to, you know, fundraise through your Facebook pages and through twitter and all of these great tools that you're gonna be able to do online. And you can go to www. Ysc.tourtopink.org and you'll be able to register starting today, actually. And what's most important about it is that there's sort of something for everyone. You can ride from 4 miles to 100 miles if you want that day.

[Co-host or Guest]

Wow.

[Courtney Bugler]

And we have routes that are 4 miles, 20 miles, 50 and 100. So for those of you who are like, you know, hardcore cyclists, we have something for you. But also, most importantly for some of our families as well as our Birch show listeners, in our four mile route, we actually have it as a family ride or walk. So if you don't have a bike, if you don't feel like riding a bike, if you want to bring out your couple of kids on their big wheels and their training wheels, you can come on out.

[Co-host or Guest]

Bert, you can bring your big wheel.

[Courtney Bugler]

That's right. And we'll paint it pink for you. And maybe put some tassels.

[Co-host or Guest]

Bert's got the badass one with the brakes so you can do the spins

[Bert (Host)]

and the one with the clicker on the back.

[Co-host or Guest]

Big green machine.

[Bert (Host)]

Damn right.

[Courtney Bugler]

So that option is open to families, to people who just want to come out, bring their bike, and maybe not do anything too crazy. And then what's really great is we're going to have bands. There's a huge community expo when you come back. So we're going to have some of our partners and some of our sponsors there to help us celebrate survivorship. And you're going to be able to have lunch, hang out, listen to bands. You're going to do some shopping. It's going to be like a Turkish bazaar. There's going to be all this stuff there and sort of something for everyone. And it starts and finishes at Perimeter Mall. So it's local, it's really easy. We had a lot of people last year who were really excited cause that they meant they just rode their bikes to the mall and then they rode some more and things like that. And one of the greatest things about the event is that there's something for everyone. And it's really a chance for us to not only raise awareness and raise funds for programs for young women with breast cancer. And everything that we raise here stays right here in the metro Atlanta area.

[Bert (Host)]

That was really big for us. One of the reasons why we wanted to hook up with you guys is the money staying right here.

[Courtney Bugler]

Exactly. And we have some really wonderful sponsors. Amona, which is a company that works specifically for women after their breast surgeries, and Amgen, one of a large pharmaceutical company, as well as Mini Cooper and the Crowne Plaza. And we have all these great sponsors that are coming together to sort of help. They help pay for the ride.

[Co-host or Guest]

You had Burden Pharmaceutical?

[Courtney Bugler]

Yeah, I know. Delicious. And so what's great is our Sponsors are paying for the ride. So it means that every dollar that you're raising is going directly to the mission. And for us, that means that we're able to provide support programs, we're able to provide newly diagnosed resource kits to young women, we're able to do education for our medical providers, we're able to do awareness campaigns throughout the city where we can speak to high school and college kids and hopefully then make sure that, you know, a year from now, two years from now, not only is everyone aware of the organization and what we do, and hopefully what that means is some woman who maybe heard us, you know, this year or heard us on the radio, you know, a year from now, two years from now, five years from now, if she finds something, she thinks to herself, wow, you know what? This is something that I should have checked out. And they go to their medical provider and they aren't blown off. So that's kind of the goal of what we're doing. And we're really excited to have you all a part of the event.

[Co-host or Guest]

What's the date of the event again?

[Courtney Bugler]

The date is October 16, but if

[Co-host or Guest]

you want to, you're gonna wanna hurt your leg around September 10th.

[Bert (Host)]

I made it. That's early this year. I don't know, I'm have to play in like a soccer marathon on October 10th or 11th.

[Co-host or Guest]

You could just slip on some stairs or something and just hit your knee just right.

[Courtney Bugler]

Tonight we're doing our kickoff party, so come on out to the Crowne Plaza in Dunwoody at 7 o'.

[Commercial Announcer]

Clock.

[Courtney Bugler]

We're providing complimentary food and beverages because we're YSC and that's how we roll. And we're going to give you free registration if you come to the Crowne Plaza tonight so you can join a cocktail. You can learn more about the event, but definitely come tonight at 7 o'.

[Commercial Voice]

Clock.

[Courtney Bugler]

And you can also see the tour de Pink mini that we're gonna be giving away. So you don't wanna miss that.

[Bert (Host)]

All right, all the info is linked up from our website over to [e-mail]. Happy to be working with you guys.

[Courtney Bugler]

Thanks so much. We're great to have you here. Super excited.

[Co-host or Guest]

Thanks for coming in.

[Bert (Host)]

And now we're friends. Now we're officially friends.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Courtney Bugler]

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