“Somehow you get through things with a sense of humor, and the help of family, friends and coworkers.”

When Sylvia was 18 years old, she had open heart surgery to repair a congenital heart defect. Since then, she’s had five pacemakers put in to control her arrhythmias. As if that weren’t enough, in 2007 Sylvia was diagnosed with cancer. And now, she’s undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. “Somehow you get through things with a sense of humor, and the help of friends, family and coworkers,” says Sylvia, who happens to work in the law department at Bristol-Myers Squibb. “What we do as a company is so important. As a patient and an employee, I just get goosebumps thinking about it.”

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