Inside Notre Dame’s fight against breast cancer

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) – Notre Dame isn’t only about football… there’s a lot of exciting research taking place every day!

In fact, Notre Dame is getting national attention for breakthrough technology helping in the fight against cancer.

Not only is it a good story to share during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but some of you may also have seen the video in the stadium or on NBC during the Ohio State game. It’s part of a Notre Dame series called “What Would You Fight For?”

Jennifer Ehren found herself in a fight against breast cancer when she was diagnosed in 2011. That was shortly before she married Tom O’Sullivan.

Tom, at the time, was an electrical engineer working for a medical lab in southern California specializing in breast cancer research. He knew he had to do something to help his fiancée, so he started work on the NearWave scanner. It’s technology that helps doctors measure diagnostic and treatment success.

“One of the first things we did when we learned of the suspicious mass is we enrolled Jennifer into one of the studies,” Tom explained. “And with the predecessor to the NearWave technology, we measured her as part of that study to see how the technology is working. So, that was really the first indication that we had something really useful that can help women like Jennifer.”

“Then when you think that one in eight women have breast cancer, then it is a bigger problem,” Jennifer said. “And it has impacts for multiple people, you know thousands, hundreds of thousands of people.”

The NearWave scanner is still in clinical trials. The hope is that it will be used in hospitals in the next one to two years.

Meanwhile, Jennifer has been in remission for 11 and a half years now. She and Tom both teach at Notre Dame, and they’re both busy parents of three children.

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When you think of former Notre Dame running back CJ Prosise, fans are flooded with loads of memories. You might see his 75-yard jet sweep touchdown against LSU in 2014. You might think back to the countless big plays he made in 2015, accounting for 1,337 total yards and 12 touchdowns, his lone year of playing running back on the college level. Then, of course, there’s being selected with the 90th overall selection in the third round of the 2016 NFL Draft. It was quite the career for the Virginia native, one that definitely defied the odds. The star gazers back then wouldn’t have been happy, recruiting a three-star with a smaller offer list.

It was a process that Prosise thought back to. It’s still a little surreal the he ended up with the Irish. “Compared to what it is these days, (my recruitment) was prehistoric,” Prosise told Irish Breakdown. “Everything for me was kind of close knit with my family and close ones. Even when Notre Dame recruited, I was just a three-star guy. I wasn’t big time and I wasn’t going on a lot of visits. I was kind of surprised when Notre Dame started recruiting me honestly.”

As Prosise was defying the odds, he was also starting a nice pipeline to Woodberry Forest, a school that has been great to the Notre Dame program over the years. That includes former Irish linebackers Greer Martini and Doug Randolph, as well as 2023 defensive line signee Armel Mukam. “I was the first ever guy to get recruited by Notre Dame from my school so I kind of started that pipeline,” said Prosise. “Being able to connect those two schools was one of my greatest accomplishments.”

Designated as an athlete, there were some questions for where the Virginia star would end up long term. He spent time at safety, wide receiver and running back during his Notre Dame career and that may have caused him to go somewhat underrated as a recruit. It was definitely a mild recruiting process compared to some stories you hear. “My process was pretty basic

“Notre Dame offered me like 30 days later and I committed like two weeks after they offered me,” Prosise continued. “My process was basically two months long. I didn’t go on any visits, not any.” Despite some minuscule attention, there was one coach in particular that Prosise remembers wanted to impress. Unfortunately, there was never a reply.

“Al Golden was at Miami when I was in ninth or tenth grade,” Prosise explained. “I was sending him my film through email thinking he was going to look at it. He probably never saw any highlights I sent him but nowadays I could have just sent it to him wherever, on Instagram or sent it right to his page and he could have seen it. It’s just a different world now.” Life after football has been good for Prosise, who actually started his own Notre Dame podcast. It’s called Lucky Underdogs, which he hosts along with former Irish cornerback Devin Butler. While the two were a part of the program, that was a mantra that they adopted.

That’s really why we started Lucky Underdogs,” he said. “It’s what we were. We are here to highlight the playoffs who don’t get the credit or recognition. It’s about the players who do their thing and never get the headline.” Prosise is yet another example of a player who far outplayed his recruiting ranking. Stars undoubtedly do matter but not all talent is developed the same. The talented athlete was just one of the prominent examples that recruiting success goes well beyond offering the top players on your favorite recruiting site’s ranking.