INDIANAPOLIS HOSTS ITS first-ever WNBA All-Star weekend July 18–19 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. The game, happening on Sunday, quickly sold out. It’s a big win for the city—and for breast cancer research, with the All-Star Legacy Project aimed at helping researchers find a cure for breast cancer, a disease one in eight women will face in their lifetime.
Portia Bailey-Bernard, a member of the WNBA All-Star 2025 Host Committee, says, “It’s a unique opportunity to leverage the excitement around the Fever and women’s sports to highlight women’s health.”
The All-Star Cure benefits the Komen Tissue Bank at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, powered by the Catherine Peachey Fund. It’s the only tissue bank in the world that collects “healthy” breast tissue and blood for research. Dr. Kathi Ridley-Merriweather, communication, recruitment, and outreach manager for the Komen Tissue Bank, says collecting disease-free tissue helps scientists study the difference between normal cells and cancerous ones and how genetics play a role in who develops breast cancer and what type.
“Black and brown women are more likely to get very aggressive forms of breast cancer, with treatments not working as well and the side effects often worse than those of white women,” Ridley-Merriweather says. She also notes that the risk of breast cancer is increasing for women under 40 regardless of ethnicity. “So they’re not necessarily paying attention to symptoms,” she says, preventing them from getting diagnosed early.
Former Indiana Fever star Tamika Catchings donated tissue in 2012 when Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl. The Super Cure, a key legacy project of Super Bowl XLVI, drew 660 women eager to help the cause.
Catchings reflects on getting the chance to be involved again.
“I was honored to donate through the Super Cure initiative during the 2012 Super Bowl, and it’s just as meaningful to contribute again and this time in connection with the WNBA All-Star Game,” she shares. “My hope is to help drive progress in breast cancer research and make a real difference. Knowing how deeply breast cancer affects minority women, I feel a responsibility to lead by example and encourage others to consider donating as well.”
The two-day collection event takes place on July 12–13 at the IU Health Simon Cancer Center from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Donors are asked to sign up in advance for an appointment.
Ridley-Merriweather says the process takes 60 to 90 minutes, which includes “getting out of the car and back to it.” Donors fill out a questionnaire, provide two to three vials of blood, and receive a local anesthetic before a small tissue sample is removed from the breast via a needle biopsy, which takes about 20 minutes. The donor can leave immediately after.
Ridley-Merriweather notes there are far fewer restrictions for donating breast tissue versus blood. To be eligible, donors must be 18 or older, not have breast implants, and not be on a blood thinner or allergic to numbing medications.
The goal is to have 500 women take part in the two-day event. Over 400 have signed up so far, but there can never be too many donors.
Ridley-Merriweather is hopeful the initiative will reach its goal even though it got a late start. Indianapolis was awarded the game in October after the original host city had to drop out, with the legacy project finalized in February. It was a tight turnaround to plan to large-scale donation event, but as Ridley-Merriweather says, “It’s pretty cool you can participate in research and know you’re helping others, with researchers around the world requesting this tissue.”
Bailey-Bernard, who donated tissue last week, calls the process seamless. “The volunteers were great. It took very little time out of my day. I was able to go back to work. And I’d do it again and again, knowing the lasting impact it will have in furthering breast cancer research.”
