CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
It all started in March when I got a call from my grandmother and she said, "Sara, I just wanted to let you know that my doctor found a lump ... I have breast cancer." I couldn't believe that the disease that plagued my mother's mother now also struck my father's mother.
I have a good friend who has walked for the last three years in the Breast Cancer 3-Day, which is a 60-mile walk during the course of three days. There are numerous walks across the country, but my grandmother's call motivated me to join forces with my friend and we decided we were going to make this 60-mile trek in the Washington, D.C., area. Each walker had to raise a minimum of $2,200 dollars for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure National Philanthropic Trust.
I was amazed when I arrived to the opening ceremonies to see the sea of pink worn by 2,600 D.C. walkers. About 2,500 women and 100 men left Woodbridge, Va., for our tour of the Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area. Three days, 150,000 steps, 8,000 calories, 64 miles (60 plus all the pit stops and the two-mile detour on day three when my friend and I got lost in downtown D.C. before our actual 20 miles started), and a sprained ankle later, I completed my mission. I was ready to give up from about mile 50 on, but we kept moving -- with every step, I reminded myself that I could be going through chemotherapy right now.
When I finished, I was handed my white shirt and we were put in a holding area. We all lined up and crossed the finish line together and made a horseshoe around a circular stage. Then it got really emotional as 50 survivors crossed that finish line in their pink shirts. We all held up one of our walking shoes to honor them. Nancy Brinker, Susan Komen's sister, got up on stage to tell us that the Washington, D.C., walkers raised $7 million for the Komen Foundation. She told us that 25 years ago, when breast cancer was diagnosed before it spread beyond the breast, the five-year survival rate was just 74 percent ... today, it is 98 percent. I'm passionate because I don't want my children to be plagued by this horrible disease -- and I'm walking next year too, but this time it will be in Philadelphia.
Why do I walk? Because everyone deserves a lifetime.
Did you know that every advance in breast cancer research, treatment, education and prevention in the last 25 years has been touched by a Komen for the Cure grant? The Komen foundation is passionate about building a future without breast cancer because, without a cure, one in eight women, or 12.6 percent of all women, will get breast cancer in her lifetime. An estimated 183,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2009 and approximately 42,000 (one person every 13 minutes) will die from the disease, according to breast cancer research officials. The disease also attacks men, and approximately 1,400 men will also be diagnosed and 400 of those men will die. Breast cancer risks increase with age and every woman is at risk. It is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54, and the second cause of cancer death in women ages 55 to 74.
The good news is that more than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States. Early detection of breast cancer, through a monthly breast self-exam offers the best chance for survival, and 96 percent of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five years.
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and if you'd like to contribute to the Breast Cancer Research Fund, please consider a Combined Federal Campaign contribution to charity code 10584. Or if you'd like to contribute to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Fund, you can contribute to charity fund 10615. You can also participate in the Race for the Cure, a 5,000-meter race on Oct. 24 -- please visit www.komen.org for more information.