New Jersey Free Press

09/16/2025

LOCAL RECOGNITION FOR A LIFE WELL LIVED IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS

BRIDGET NESKO, BSN, RN RECOGNIZED WITH DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD FROM GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

On September 18, 2025, the George Mason University Alumni Association and the University’s College of Public Health will recognize the lifetime achievements of Bridget Nesko, BSN, RN with the Distinguished Alumni Award for a life well lived in the service of others.

Nesko was a brilliant and accomplished registered cardiac nurse and health care educator, publisher, radio broadcaster, and voiceover artist. She graduated from George Mason University with her Bachelor of Science in nursing degree in 2006 and was awarded the Kitty Parker Smith Leadership Award for her outstanding community service. During her lifetime, Nesko built a dynamic health care career in various nursing roles and emerged with the clear understanding that women needed better health care attention than was available.

A victim of the health care system she worked so hard to improve, Nesko suffered from various growing symptoms of ovarian cancer that went undetected by her medical team members for more than six years. Her ovarian cancer was finally diagnosed after reaching a critical and virtually incurable Stage 3C in February 2021. After diagnosis, and despite the uphill battle she knew she faced, Nesko had the strength, will, and determination to fight. She urged her husband and family to help defy ovarian cancer—to delay, defer, and maybe defeat the cancer’s ability to claim more women’s lives—through physician education and public and media awareness.

Despite Nesko’s 17-month regimen of 21 chemotherapy treatments, she succumbed to the illness at her home on November 28, 2022, at the age of 55—just 16 years after earning her BSN degree.

In her honor and legacy, Nesko’s family created the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation and Education Center, which works closely with George Mason University to, among other things, recognize and honor graduating BSN candidates for their achievement in overcoming adversity to become a clinical nurse.

George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia is among the nation’s leading Healthcare focused learning institutions, with more than 25,000 Patriots registered in the alumni online community.

For more information about the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation and Education Center, go to BridgetAngelFund.Org. For more information about George Mason University, go to GMU.Edu

09/03/2025

SEEKING QUALIFIED CPA WITH NONPROFIT FOCUS

See details below.

08/31/2025

SEPTEMBER IS OVARIAN CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

It is also the month when, in 2022, Bridget Nesko published her last edition of her New Jersey Free Press community newspaper, after five years and nine months in publication.

Sick, fatigued beyond imagination, in pain from 17 months of chemotherapy treatments that failed, and nearing the end of her life, Bridget refused to stop publishing her community newspaper – until she couldn’t physically do it anymore.

Bridget succumbed to her ovarian cancer 52 days after its publication.

In Bridget’s honor and memory, I wanted to share a copy of that publication and remind you that, by midnight tonight, another 570 women will have died worldwide from ovarian cancer – many if not most could have survived if diagnosed earlier.

That is what the BRIDGET NESKO OVARIAN CANCER FOUNDATION AND EDUCATION CENTER is fighting to do - DEFY OVARIAN CANCER in our lifetime.

We don’t want your money – we want your attention and we want to help save your life.

https://bridgetangelfund.org/

07/22/2025

In honor of what should have been Bridget Flynn Nesko’s 58th birthday, the Nesko and Flynn family treated the staff of the Philadelphia Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center’s Oncology and Infusion departments to a pizza lunch on July 22, 2025. Bridget died November 28, 2022 from the ravages of ovarian cancer at the age of only 55 after she underwent a brutal 17-month battle.

Pictured are Claudia Thomas-Nembhard, MSN, RN, OCN (left), Michael Flynn – Bridget’s Brother and Trustee with the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation (center), and Dr. Russell Schilder, MD, Emeritus Faculty, Thomas Jefferson University and Bridget Nesko’s former Oncologist (right).

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By midnight tonight, another 570 women will die worldwide from the ravages of ovarian cancer – most, like Bridget, because of late or misdiagnosis.

Learn to protect yourself and the lives of your loved ones by learning the ovarian and gynecologic cancer signs, symptoms and early testing and treatment options by going to https://bridgetangelfund.org

07/22/2025

In memory of what should have been Bridget Flynn Nesko’s 58th birthday, the Nesko and Flynn family treated the staff of the Philadelphia Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center’s Oncology and Infusion departments to a pizza lunch on July 22, 2025. Bridget died November 28, 2022 from the ravages of ovarian cancer at the age of only 55 after she underwent a brutal 17-month battle.

Pictured are members of the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center’s oncology and infusion team responsible for caring for Bridget Nesko during her 17-month battle against ovarian cancer in 2021 and 2022. They include Joanne Smith, RN, Amy Graham, RN, Patricia Darlington, RN, Ken Smoot, PCT2, and Sheila Williams, RN. Also pictured is Michael Flynn - Bridget’s Brother and Trustee with the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation.

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By midnight tonight, another 570 women will die worldwide from the ravages of ovarian cancer – most, like Bridget, because of late or misdiagnosis.

Learn to protect yourself and the lives of your loved ones by learning the ovarian and gynecologic cancer signs, symptoms and early testing and treatment options by going to https://bridgetangelfund.org

07/22/2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIDGET – YOUR LEGACY OF HEALING LIVES ON

Today – July 22nd – Bridget Nesko should have been celebrating her 58th birthday.

Instead, Bridget’s husband Kevin and brother Michael Flynn, treated the amazing nursing and technical oncology and infusion staff at Jefferson/ Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia to lunch in Bridget’s honor and memory. Their remarkable team treated Bridget with tender care and acute attention throughout her 2021-22 ovarian cancer illness.

We lost Bridget because of six years of medical practitioner delays in recognizing and diagnosing her ovarian cancer signs and symptoms. By the time her medical team at Jefferson and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center diagnosed her illness, it was too late.

A brilliant cardiac nurse, educator, publisher, broadcaster, and incredible wife, love, partner, friend, mother, daughter and sister, Bridget died on November 28, 2022, at the age of only 55.

To honor her legacy and carry on her work to save lives, after Bridget’s death, we created the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation and Education Center. The Center is committed to defying ovarian cancer by providing and promoting ovarian cancer education, awareness, and technical certification to the primary care medical community through a comprehensive and evidence-based remote training and testing educational program aimed at enabling faster recognition and response in clinical settings. By attending this free reorientation program, there will be no reason for an ovarian cancer misdiagnosis.

Our program will be operational in 2026 and open to all medical practitioners nationwide.

By midnight tonight, another 570 women will die worldwide from the ravages of ovarian cancer – most, like Bridget, because of late or misdiagnosis.

Learn to protect yourself and the lives of your loved ones by learning the ovarian and gynecologic cancer signs, symptoms and early testing and treatment options by going to https://bridgetangelfund.org

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Pictured with the 50-pizza order is Claudia Thomas-Nembhard, MSN, RN, OCN (left), Michael Flynn – Bridget’s Brother and Trustee with the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Foundation (center), and Karen Campisi, Senior Practice Manager for oncology and infusion operations at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (right).

03/27/2025

LEGAL SERVICES WANTED

Dynamic and growing national nonprofit organization currently based in Southern New Jersey is seeking proposals / applications from licensed legal professionals able to provide pro bono and discounted legal services.

For more information about us:
Go to: BridgetAngelFund.Org

Contact our Search Team at:
[email protected]

03/10/2025

LAST CALL TO READ JERRY BLAVAT’S “GEATOR GAB” COLUMN

If you are a fan of the late Jerry Blavat, here is your last chance to read his monthly column “GEATOR GAB”, which appeared in the NEW JERSEY FREE PRESS monthly community newspaper from October, 2020 through September 2022.

With the death of my wife, partner and newspaper publisher BRIDGET NESKO in November 2022, Bridget’s New Jersey Free Press newspaper ceased publication. Shortly thereafter, Jerry Blavat lost his life too in January, 2023.

While the newspaper ended publication, a small team of Bridget’s family and friends contemplated continuing the news website, but have collectively agreed to close the website effective April 2025.

Take advantage now of your chance to read Jerry’s column and remember the Memories he shared with his fans.

Go to: https://njfreepress.com/jerry-blavat-geator-gab/

03/28/2024

https://www.samaritannj.org/hospice-blog-and-events/hospice-palliative-care-blog/bridget-neskos-story-a-heart-for-healthcare-and-a-legacy-that-lives-on/

Bridget Nesko’s Ovarian Cancer Story: A Heart for Healthcare and a Legacy that Lives On and other hospice blog articles from the official Samaritan Hospice blog.

03/11/2024

HOSPICE HERO HONORED

When Philadelphia-born, Northern Virginia-based cardiac nurse Bridget Nesko BSN, RN learned of her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis in 2014, she rushed to her home in Clayton, New Jersey to care for her dying parent. As the illness progressed beyond her family’s ability to help, hospice support was sought, and Bridget selected Samaritan for that support. After her mother’s passing, Bridget grieved deeply, but was so impressed with the level of care and compassion shown by hospice professionals that she vowed to do all she could to support Samaritan in their mission. Soon after, when Bridget launched a community newspaper and a radio broadcast, she highlighted Samaritan as often as possible.

Seven short years later, Bridget herself faced a terminal diagnosis and a nearly two-year uphill battle against ovarian cancer. After multiple hospital stays, her fight was nearing an end, and in November of 2022, she asked her husband Kevin to take her home to die. She also asked him to call in Samaritan to do for her what they did for her mother – provide her and her family with care, compassion, and support.

Within a week of Bridget’s death, her husband and family formed the Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, with a leading goal defined by Bridget on her deathbed: “to find a way to honor the hardworking souls from Samaritan.”

Bridget’s family fulfilled her wish with the creation of the “Excellence in Service Award.” The first recipient of the award was Kimberley Alice Corda, RN, BSN, Case Manager for Samaritan. Corda also happened to be the nurse responsible for managing Bridget’s care team as she died at home with her husband.

Corda graduated from Rutgers University in 2006 with High Honors and was awarded the Sigma Theta Tau Best All Around Student for her class. She spent her early nursing career working in Critical Care and ER units and eventually found her way into home care. While working with ventilator-dependent patients doing overnight shifts in their homes, she was offered an opportunity with Samaritan. This was the turning point in her career. The calling to step into service in the community and offer compassionate, down-to-earth, care to people facing end-of-life was fostered in her various roles as a hospice nurse, from Admissions to Case Management.

“Being afforded the space and time to witness people in their grief and vulnerability was a gift… a profound and precious gift”, Corda said.

The Foundation entered into a ten-year agreement with Samaritan to award the “Excellence in Service Award” and a $500 honorarium annually to one clinical staff member who demonstrated outstanding care, compassion, and commitment to serving the fragile patients under Samaritan’s care. That staff member is selected by Samaritan representatives and presented the award at Samaritan's annual WinterFest celebration. A permanent extension of the ten-year agreement is being developed by Foundation representatives.

The Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation and Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project were founded to honor Bridget’s memory and legacy. Nesko’s Foundation - a nonprofit charity - provides financial awards and scholarships to dependents of families impacted by ovarian cancer and to other charitable, service, and education-oriented organizations serving the ovarian cancer community. The Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project is active worldwide in grass-roots advocacy to increase awareness among women, their families and physicians about the signs, symptoms, and early detection and treatment options for victims of ovarian cancer.

Samaritan provides an ever-expanding range of healthcare services for patients, their caregivers and their families at every stage of serious illness care. Samaritan's expert care team includes physicians, nurses, social workers, certified home health aides, spiritual support counselors, bereavement counselors, and volunteers. This team answers questions, offers counsel, helps with advance directives, provides pain and symptom relief, and provides an extra layer of support to patients and families in times of their greatest need.

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women, and by midnight tonight, more than 750 women will die from it worldwide. Some of those deaths could have been avoided or delayed with proactive recognition, diagnosis and earlier treatment.

Information about Samaritan can be found at samaritannj.org.

Information about the Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. and the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project can be found at BridgetAngelFund.Org

02/12/2024

HOSPICE HEROES TO BE RECOGNIZED

The Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. and the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project are proud to announce that they have entered into a ten-year agreement with Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice, Inc. to recognize and honor members of their hardworking and compassionate clinical staff.

Every year, the Bridget Nesko Foundation will award a $500 honorarium and an “Excellence in Service Award” plaque recognizing a member of the clinical staff who has demonstrated outstanding care, compassion and commitment to serving the fragile patients under Samaritan’s care. That staff member will be selected by Samaritan representatives.

A permanent extension of the ten-year agreement is being developed by Foundation representatives.

Taking part in the announcement was Valerie Mallon, RN, Foundation Trustee, Patricia Harding, RN, Foundation Trustee, Michael Flynn, Foundation Trustee, Treasurer and brother of Bridget Nesko, Kevin Nesko, Bridget’s husband of 27 years and Director of the Foundation, and Chris Rollins, CFRE, Chief Development Officer for Samaritan.

Samaritan provides an ever-expanding range of healthcare services for patients, their caregivers and their families at every stage of serious illness care. Samaritan's expert care team includes physicians, nurses, social workers, certified home health aides, spiritual support counselors, bereavement counselors, and volunteers. This team answers questions, offers counsel, helps with advance directives, provides pain and symptom relief, and provides an extra layer of support to patients and families in times of their greatest need.

The Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation and Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project were founded to honor the memory and legacy of Bridget Nesko, BSN, RN, who died at 55 years of age on November 28, 2022 after a brutal two-year battle against ovarian cancer. Nesko’s Foundation - a nonprofit charity - provides financial awards and scholarships to dependents of families impacted by ovarian cancer and to other charitable, service and education-oriented organizations serving the ovarian cancer community. The Nesko Project - part of the Foundation - is active worldwide in grass-roots advocacy to increase awareness among women, their families and physicians about the signs, symptoms, and early detection and treatment options for victims of ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women, and by midnight tonight, more than 750 women will die from it worldwide. Some of those deaths could have been avoided or delayed with proactive recognition, diagnosis and earlier treatment.

Information about Samaritan can be found at samaritannj.org.

Information about the Bridget Nesko Memorial Scholarship Foundation, Inc. and the Bridget Nesko Ovarian Cancer Project can be found at BridgetAngelFund.Org

02/01/2024

Our final show on WVLT, in honor of Bridget Flynn Nesko, BSN, RN, who lost her life at 55 years of age from ovarian cancer. Go to: https://bridgetangelfund.org/