Found early, everything changes.

The story behind the Foundation

Vivian Hanna was married to a physician. She had access to care, to expertise, and to a physician in her own home. Her breast cancer was still found late.

By the time anyone knew what they were looking at, it had already traveled. From the first sign that something was wrong to the day the family understood what they were facing, only a few months passed. Vivian passed three months after it was found, in 2024.

That is the fact her family sat with afterward, and it is the reason this Foundation exists. If it can happen inside a doctor's own home, it can happen to any woman anywhere in Tampa Bay, and it happens most often to the women with the fewest chances to catch it early.

Mission Funding breast cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment for women in Tampa Bay who face cost as a barrier to early detection.

My happy place is watching people get better. It was hers too. We both truly believe in that.

Who Vivian was

Vivian and John Hanna were both born in Egypt, and both families came to America in the late 1970s through New York. They attended the same grammar school, the same high school, and the same college, and never once met. They were introduced years later through mutual friends, by what both always described as providence.

They married young, he at 23 and she at 21, in New Jersey. They had two children early and grew up alongside them. Their Coptic Orthodox faith was the spine of the household. In November of 1998 the family moved to Florida.

Vivian worked as a physical therapist assistant. She was the giver in every room she entered: she supported multiple charities and treated generosity as an ordinary daily practice rather than an occasion. When she and Dr. Hanna founded Internal Medicine MD, the purpose was simple. Patients should have options, and for a woman with no margin in her budget, the Foundation is what makes that true.

When breast cancer is detected early, treatment can be more effective and outcomes are often significantly better. But for too many women, the opportunity for early detection is missed simply because they cannot afford a mammogram. The Vivian Hanna Foundation is working to close that gap by making life saving breast cancer screenings accessible to those who need them most.

Story priority one: The Pink Bus comes to Trinity

For Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Foundation is bringing the MammoLink mobile mammography unit to Trinity and covering the full cost of screening for a minimum of 40 uninsured women. Appointments take ten minutes. Results come back the same day. No physician script is required.

Why this is a story now

• A physician who lost his wife to breast cancer is now paying for other women's screenings. The founder is on site and available for interview.
• Cost is the only barrier, and it is removed. For an uninsured woman it is often the one thing between her and an early answer.
• A minimum of forty women, one day, fully covered. A finite, countable, visual local story with a clear deadline attached.
• October is when the reach is widest. Screening partners extend their capacity during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so the Foundation serves more women this month than any other.
• It returns. The Foundation ran this in 2025, so photography and a second year of momentum are already in hand.

The event

Available visuals

The mobile unit exterior and interior, patients arriving for screening, Dr. Hanna with clinical staff, Foundation and event signage, and same day results in progress.

Interview availability

John Hanna, MD, founder, is available on site October 16 and by phone in advance. Foundation patients are available by prior arrangement with written consent.

Story priority two: The annual gala

The Foundation's signature fundraising evening underwrites the screening and surgical programs that run through the following year. Coverage ahead of the date drives both attendance and giving.

We cannot go back and change what happened in our family. We can make sure another family gets the early phone call instead of the late one.

Where the money goes

Gifts made at the gala fund the mammogram itself for a woman who cannot cover it, the diagnostic imaging and biopsy that follow when a screening finds something, and the surgical care after that.

The Foundation does not hand a woman a result and step away. It stays with her through whatever comes next. That full circle model is what separates this from a screening drive, and it is the part most worth explaining on air or in print.

Why cover it early

Coverage in the weeks before the date does two things at once: it fills the room, and it reaches people who cannot attend but will give. Because what is raised in December becomes screenings the following spring, a story that runs in November has a measurable outcome a reporter can return to later in the year.

The evening

The gala angle

The room is full of people who knew Vivian, so it is a community event as much as a fundraiser. Local business and physician participation makes it a fit for regional business press alongside lifestyle and health desks.

Available for coverage

Dr. Hanna and Foundation leadership for interview in advance of the evening. Photography from the 2025 gala is cleared for editorial use and available now. On site press access can be arranged through the media contact.

Media assets and downloads

Photography, graphics, and event collateral are available for editorial use. Please credit The Vivian Hanna Foundation Inc. Higher resolution files and additional assets are available on request through the media contact.

Open the media library (Google Drive, opens in a new tab)

The media library holds photography from the 2025 MammoLink Pink Bus screening day and the 2025 annual gala, plus Foundation graphics and event collateral.

Asset inventory

Broadcast ready B roll, a vector logo, or an on camera interview can all be arranged. Contact Justin Miller at 727.810.1798.

A note on image selection

These galleries document full events. We ask that selections stay with images that carry the screening and mission story: the mobile unit, patients and staff, program moments, and speakers. Please avoid dancing, social, or celebratory frames, which tell a different visual story than the one this work is about.

Usage and credit

All linked photography is cleared for editorial use in connection with coverage of the Foundation, the October 16 screening event, or the December gala. Please credit The Vivian Hanna Foundation Inc.

Images of patients are provided only where written consent is on file. If a specific image is needed at full resolution, the media desk can supply it on request. If the media library link does not open for you, contact the media desk and the galleries will be sent directly.

About the Foundation

Programs

• Funded screening. Fully covered mammograms for uninsured and underinsured women, at no cost to the patient.
• Mobile mammography days. Screening brought directly into the community, which removes transportation and scheduling as obstacles.
• Diagnostic and surgical access. When a screening finds something, the Foundation stays with the patient through diagnostic imaging, biopsy, and lesion removal.
• The Surgeon Partner Circle. An invitation to Tampa Bay surgeons to donate operative time, multiplying the Foundation's reach so that resources covering a single surgery can serve many more women.

Founder

John Hanna, MD was born in Egypt and came to the United States with his family in the late 1970s. He built Internal Medicine MD alongside his wife Vivian around a single premise: that patients deserve options. He founded the Foundation in her honor, extending the work she did quietly for years into a permanent structure.

Funding model

Internal Medicine MD, the two location practice Vivian and Dr. Hanna built together in Hudson and Trinity, is the founding and anchor funder. All program dollars flow through the Foundation. Individual gifts, corporate sponsorships, and grants supplement the base.

Organizational facts

Quotes and reporter FAQ

Attributable quotes

All quotes are attributable to John Hanna, MD, founder.

My wife had every advantage a person could have, and it was still found too late. That is what keeps me up. If it happened to her, it is happening right now to women who have far less than she did.

For some women a mammogram is a decision against groceries. No woman should have to make that decision, and here she does not have to.

She gave to everyone, constantly, and she never made a production of it. This Foundation is just her habit, made permanent.

We started Internal Medicine MD to give patients options. The Foundation is the same idea, extended to women who did not have any.

Frequently asked

Who is eligible for the October 16 event?

Uninsured individuals ages 35 and up. No physician script is required. Forty appointments are available, held with a refundable deposit.

How does someone book?

By calling the Internal Medicine MD Trinity office directly at 727.997.1635.

Where does the funding come from?

Internal Medicine MD is the founding and anchor funder. The Foundation also accepts individual gifts, corporate sponsorships, and grants.

Is the Foundation a registered nonprofit?

Yes. A 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 33.1768899, effective October 28, 2024. The determination letter is linked under Organizational facts above.

Can we interview a patient?

Yes, by prior arrangement and with written consent.

What percentage of donations reaches programs?

Available on request through the media contact.