By day, Dr. Holly Hamilton is the owner of Riverside Family Dental in Sebastian. But each October, she dons a magical unicorn horn to lead fellow fundraisers on the Hunt for Hope Florida to benefit the IBC Network Foundation, which funds clinical research in hopes of finding a cure for Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Because of the pandemic, this year’s eighth annual event was structured as a week-long virtual scavenger hunt, from Sept. 16 to Oct. 3, with individuals and teams fanning out throughout their own neighborhoods. During the hunt, the entire team had to participate and photograph themselves completing all tasks. And at the end of the week, participants got together at Mash Monkeys Brewing Company to swap stories and receive prizes.

While October is well known as Breast Cancer Awareness month, most people – many doctors included – are unaware of the signs of IBC. This form primarily affects women under age 40 and it has a considerably lower survival rate than other forms of breast cancer.

Rather than presenting as a lump, the disease initially appears as an infection or even a bug bite, with little or no initial pain, and it is rarely detected through mammograms. As a result, IBC is often misdiagnosed, delaying critical treatment until it has progressed to Stage III or IV.

So, in addition to fundraising, the fun-filled hunt is also meant to educate members of the medical profession and the public about this extremely aggressive, yet little known, form of breast cancer. Hamilton started Hunt for Hope Florida in honor of her friend Dr. Lori Grennan, a physician who began the first Hunt for Hope in Ohio while undergoing treatment for IBC.

Before she ultimately lost her battle seven years ago, Grennan worked in partnership with the all-volunteer IBC Network Foundation founded by Terry Arnold to raise funds for all-important clinical research into this devastating disease. The IBC Network Foundation nationwide has raised over $1,000,000 for research since being founded in 2011.

For more information, visit theibcnetwork.org.