Constance (Connie) Bramer, Founder and President of Get Your Rack Back Inc., is a published author, speaker and cancer survivor.

 

In 2008, upon her diagnosis with breast cancer and throughout her treatment, Connie was amazed and touched by the kindness of others. People she had never met sent her cards with inspiring words. Fruit baskets and meals were sent to her home. Her friends came to the rescue; picking her kids up from school and even assisting them with their homework when Connie was too ill to get out of bed.

To help Connie cope with her illness and maintain some semblance of sanity, she blogged about her daily cancer adventures. Maintaining her sense of humor was vital to her recovery and she shares these stories of laughter and triumph in her memoir, “How Connie Got Her Rack Back."

After her memoir was published in 2012, Connie held a launch party celebration to thank all of her friends and family for their generosity and support – and the first Get Your Rack Back event was born. She decided to turn it into a fundraiser asking friends with businesses for items to auction at the event. That year, they raised $4,600 to give to the American Cancer Society. In the two years that followed, Connie’s annual Get Your Rack Back Event raised $22,000 to give to various charities in the community.

Wanting to make more of a direct impact on her local community, Connie established Get Your Rack Back Inc. in March 2015 as a 501c3 nonprofit organization and since then, GYRB has raised over $150,000 to assist local cancer patients. Her mission as President of GYRB is to provide that same level of love and comfort she felt as a cancer patient to families affected by cancer in her community.

 

Watch a video of Connie speaking as part of the Library Book Review Series hosted by Joe Nash and produced by the William K. Sanford Town Library: