Meet Vinnie

Vincent, most commonly known as Vinnie Cent, grew up in Montgomery County just outside of Philadelphia. As a Cheltenham High School student, he participated in a variety of sports, but also had a brewing interest in writing and performance art. Athletics were at the epicenter of Vinnie’s childhood and adolescent years. At the beginning of his junior year in the fall of 2003, Vinnie began to notice consistent fatigue during soccer practices and routine tasks such as walking from class to class. Eventually his mother caught wind of these issues and took Vinnie in for testing where he was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Vinnie’s treatment consisted of 3 rounds of chemotherapy between September 2003 and February 2004. Once discharged from CHOP, the transition back to high school presented challenges that were overshadowed by the triumph of remission and desire to move forward. In the summer of 2009 Vinnie was officially classified as being cured from AML, and is currently in his 16th year of remission. 

After spending most of his time connecting with anyone he came into contact with during his time in the hospital, Vinnie has since embraced his passion to connect with people, and being involved with the personal growth of others alongside his own. In 2018, Vinnie celebrated his 30th birthday by traveling to 30 cities around the United States and Canada. During this 6 month journey he raised money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and spoke about his experience with cancer and the impact that finding community has in people working through life’s most challenging moments. Amidst his departure he was recruited to be a contributing writer and advocate for Health Union LLC, a company whose mission is to facilitate meaningful engagement by developing online communities for people with different health conditions such as blood cancer. The culmination of these experiences has led Vinnie down a path of advocacy and mentorship within the cancer community and he is excited to connect and support you in your journey towards healing and self care.