WAVERLY TWP. — State Rep. Bridget M. Kosierowski says she is doing “really good, really good” after her beast cancer diagnosis and mastectomy.
The Waverly Twp. Democrat wants her experience to be a lesson about early detection.
“It just makes me more laser-focused on the lane that I’ve always been in, which is healthcare, which is accessibility, affordability, education,” said Kosierowski, a registered nurse and mother of a childhood cancer survivor. “And so I think if anything, it’s strengthened me and given me more of a drive to continue to go to Harrisburg and do what I get to do for my constituents.”
Local breast cancer survivor Peggy Begley speaks during a Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition event Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. She credited a routine mammogram when she was 40 with giving her the next 30 years to spend with her grandchildren and play mahjong. (ISAAC DIAZ/STAFF PHOTO)
Breast cancer survivors are called to the front and receive gifts during the opening reception for the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition’s “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” photo exhibit at the Waverly Community House in Waverly, Pa., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (ISAAC DIAZ/STAFF PHOTO)
Pennsylvania Rep. Bridget Kosierowski speaks with an attendee after the opening reception for the “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” photo exhibit at the Waverly Community House in Waverly, Pa., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (ISAAC DIAZ/STAFF PHOTO)
Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti speaks with an attendee after the opening reception for the “67 Women, 67 Counties: Facing Breast Cancer in Pennsylvania” photo exhibit at the Waverly Community House in Waverly, Pa., on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. (ISAAC DIAZ/STAFF PHOTO)
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Local breast cancer survivor Peggy Begley speaks during a Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition event Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026. She credited a routine mammogram when she was 40 with giving her the next 30 years to spend with her grandchildren and play mahjong. (ISAAC DIAZ/STAFF PHOTO)
Kosierowski spoke at a Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition event at the Waverly Community House on Thursday, where a photography exhibit that includes local survivors is on display through Aug. 14. Kosierowski thanked the coalition for supporting research. One in eight American women are diagnosed with breast cancer.
“But I’m one of the women that has a really good prognosis,” she told an audience of about 60. “Because A, I was early. It was early detection by mammogram. B, I am a huge, huge supporter of research. Medical research, science and funding is absolutely a huge reason why I get to stand here and say I have a treatment plan, I have a really good prognosis, and I’m going to be hanging around a lot longer.”
In interviews before and after the event, Kosierowski spoke about getting the news and what lies ahead.
She was diagnosed at age 54 because of the routine mammograms recommended for women age 40 and over. Kosierowski follows the coalition’s advice for yearly mammograms.
She described her diagnosis as Stage 1 of the DCIS form of breast cancer, a “good one,” she said.
But getting the news was “surreal,” she said.
In the time between the first suspicious mammogram and picking a treatment, she and her husband, Joseph, kept it to themselves until they had something solid to tell their four children. The youngest is in high school.
Her daughter Anna graduated from her alma mater, Villanova University, the day before Kosierowski met with a surgeon. “I had lots of questions, but I wanted to focus on my daughter Anna and her graduation and being with my family that day. So, I did,” she said.
She made her diagnosis public in a video on June 23. Unmentioned in the video was that surgery to remove her left breast was the same day.
Her future treatment is up in the air, and she has not decided if she wants breast reconstruction.
Kosierowski is running for reelection in November in the 114th District, which includes part of Scranton, the Abingtons, and several other Lackawanna County municipalities.
She said the flood of messages after the video included a “very kind” note from her Nov. 3 challenger, Republican Logan Lombardo, a 28-year-old papermaking technician from Clarks Summit. She was uncontested in the May 19 Democratic primary election.
Kosierowski was personally and politically invested in medical research long before her own diagnosis. Her son, Jacob, survived leukemia as a child and later developed a benign brain tumor. He is now a law student.
“One thing that is incredibly important,” she said, “it is understanding that research and science and doctors are people that we must understand to trust. We are under attack in this country by misinformation, by pulling away funding for research, and it is incredibly dangerous. My cancer is curable because of clinical trials, peer reviews, scientists and doctors, and I’m benefiting from that, because my prognosis is excellent. But I’ve known this for many years.”
Kosierowski urges women to make time for mammograms. “We’re innate caretakers, and I think sometimes we don’t take care of ourselves,” she said.
Kosierowski said many people have reached out to say she inspired them to get screened. Breast cancer is one of only a few cancers that can be detected with routine screening. Others include prostate, cervical and colon.
After the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition event, Kosierowski fell into conversations about side effects and treatment options.
“I felt very welcomed into this survivor sisterhood,” she said.
The display at the Comm is a traveling exhibit of photographs of breast cancer survivors from across the state. Local women photographed for the exhibit include Kathy McDonald, Michele Rzeszewicz, Lea Mahoski and Alysia Drake.
It is on view during the regular hours of the 1115 N. Abington Road community center. An expanded version of the exhibit, information about free mammograms and other resources are online at the coalition’s website, pabreastcancer.org.
Kosierowski will also be involved in Paint Clarks Summit Pink on Aug. 15, a breast cancer treatment event she signed on to sponsor before her diagnosis.