Standing in the Rain for Breast Cancer

So there I stood. In the middle of West 42nd Street in Midtown Manhattan. In the pouring rain. With high winds! Laughing.

I could not have been happier, prouder, or more appreciative of a smart, hard working and very intelligent group of people in Israel and the United States who are IceCure, the Israeli company that finally got its well deserved approval from the Food and Drug Administration for curing types of breast cancer.

I was proud not only that IceCure, eight years after its invention had freed me of cancer, finally got FDA approval of the Pro Sense procedure and was being honored by Nasdaq, but also that my IceCure friends wanted to be sure I was part of their celebration.

So IceCure invited me to go to the Nasdaq headquarters to walk out onto 42nd Street beneath that seven story high moving screen that proudly announced IceCure and ProSense is now on the Stock Exchange.

IceCure had also invited my daughter Tracie to accompany me, be in photos, meet some of the very wonderful and very gracious Nasdaq folks who invited us into their office, along with Sara Vehling, IceCure’s Head of Marketing, for tea, coffee and some relaxation in their lounge before going out to the street for the photos. That was only after they presented us each with gift wrapped boxes of chocolate and even umbrellas to celebrate the day’s weather.

Sara is one of those wonderful women that work so hard for IceCure and do so much. Born in New York, Sara went to work for IceCure, met her husband in Israel, had two adorable children, and now the family lives in Israel yet Sara comes back to the States not only for family visits but for work as well.

Nasdaq and IceCure personnel also work extremely well together. It was important to IceCure to have me in the photo; they knew it would be an honor and a privilege I would always remember. They felt they wanted to show their appreciation for my support of their company … as if being cured of cancer is not enough reason to support IceCure….

So even when weather, drivers and traffic conditions on the Garden State Parkway delayed my scheduled arrival time, Nasdaq acquiesced to Sara’s request to change the time for the photo shoot. They willingly agreed and made all the necessary adjustments with photographers and video alike.  But when the traffic problems delayed my arrival even more, once again Nasdaq agreed with IceCure’s request to wait. By the time we did arrive, the entire team was gracious enough to offer us that time to relax before going out in the rain for the shoot.

That’s one reason why I could be so happy standing in the rain for a photo op.

  IceCure is a company that believes women facing breast cancer diagnoses should be empowered to find the treatment option that is right for them. And that’s why it is the first and only FDA-cleared medical device for the local treatment of breast cancer. The company’s ProSense® System is giving women the power of choice with minimally invasive cryoablation.

ProSense® is FDA-cleared for the local treatment of breast cancer in women aged 70 and above with biologically low-risk tumors, women who agree to endocrine and hormone therapy as well if needed.

For a woman, simply speaking with her own doctor can help her understand if the type of diagnosed breast cancer makes the woman a candidate for cryoablation.

The procedure is quick, painless, and non-invasive, other than a needle going into a woman’s breast.  Using extremely low temperatures (lower than –170C°), cryoablation freezes and destroys breast tumors by creating an ice ball around the targeted tissue. Under ultrasound guidance, a small, needle-like cryoprobe is inserted into the tumor and, using liquid nitrogen, the tumor is frozen. The destroyed tissue is 0naturally reabsorbed by the body over time and the adjacent tissue is left unharmed.

The ProSense system enhances patient 0value by accelerating recovery, reducing pain, surgical risks, and complications. With its easy, transportable design and liquid nitrogen utilization, ProSense opens the door to fast and convenient office-based procedures for breast tumors.

 IceCure is an innovative medical device company (NASDAQ: ICCM) founded in 2006 with the mission to improve minimally invasive treatment for benign and cancerous tumors by freezing them.

Its flagship liquid nitrogen cryoablation technology enables a fast and convenient procedure with outstanding results, minimal pain, rapid recovery and fewer complications compared to more invasive surgeries. By empowering treatment choice, patients can freeze their cancer, not their lives.

For me, standing in the rain for this two minute photo shoot seemed like still another step in a journey I have taken with an incredible company that simply invited me along. By coincidence, my church was going to Israel two weeks after my procedure eight years ago.  IceCure invited me to visit them in Caesarea, meet their staff and see their office, then took me to a restaurant on the Mediterranean for lunch before driving me back to my hotel in Jerusalem. We spent the next few years emailing each other, catching up on life. Last October, I mourned with my new friends not only their own personal losses in that murderous attack by Hamas that impacted everyone in the company, even if not related, since all knew someone who was killed or a family personally impacted by the invasion and subsequent war.

Yet  IceCure remained dedicated to its own duty of helping women fight cancer. In October if 2024, my daughter and I traveled to Maryland so I could stand before the Food and Drug Administration and tell them how successful is ProSense and  IceCure’s dedication. At the beginning of this October, the FDA finally gave it approval, and while at the present time is only for women 70 years of age or older,  IceCure has already begun its trial on younger cancer victims to continue to expand FDA approvals for larger audiences.

So standing in the rain, between my daughter Tracie and my IceCure friend Sara and seeing that seven story high full color film of IceCure’s ProSense was not only inspiring and unforgettable, but a bigger than life representation that the great medical and scientific minds in Israel will continue to bring cures, innovation, and 21st century advancement for the treatment of cancer. For me, including this American woman and her family in sharing the public announcements of their success and the future of this Israeli company, was one more sign of the kindness, love, and thoughtfulness of some pretty incredible people.

To learn more about IceCure, reach out through social channels, email them at
icecuresupport@icecure-medical.com or call toll-free +1-888-902-5716  or  international +972-4-623-0333.

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