NORTH BAY -- The community of North Bay is continuing to throw its support behind CTV Northern Ontario Video Journalist Brittany Bortolon.
Five years ago, Brittany discovered she possesses a gene passed down from family members that links to breast cancer.
At the time, doctors told her she was too young to be concerned, but she was still looking into getting preventative surgery.
Before she could, an MRI found the disease in her right breast.
It was in that moment everything changed, explained Brittany, as "we no longer could do the preventative surgery… we were talking about a completely different thing that we had to do now."
Instead of feeling sorrow through these times, Brittany says she is hopeful knowing the advances in breast cancer screening and treatment. She wants to inspire other young women her age to get tested.
On Saturday, more than 200 of her friends, family, local dignitaries, media friends and co-workers attended a spaghetti dinner and trivia night in her honour.
Bortolon was also in attendance. She says she’s grateful to see everyone support her and says she wants to thank all of her friends and family for helping her get through it.
"It humbles me at how much people have come together and I can't believe it and I honestly am blown away," she expressed.
One of her friends Clarke Heipel teamed up with the Girls With A Cause campaign to raise funds for the young journalist.
Heipel told CTV News he was deeply impacted by Brittany’s story and wanted to help her as much as he could.
"You really learn a lot about somebody through hardships and struggle... when she received her diagnosis, it hit me... it goes to show how good of a friend someone is when they're going through something difficult," said Heipel.
The community raised over $5,000 during the trivia night. All the money will be going directly to Bortolon to offset medical costs during her fight against breast cancer.
Heipel also organized a media team called #BrittsBevy in Brittany’s name back in October for the CIBC Run For The Cure. The team raised over $4,000 for breast cancer research.
(Some of the CTV Northern Ontario team was able to attend the North bay fundraiser for Brittany Bortolon)
