Cancer Care

When 36-year-old Susan G. Komen died of breast cancer, her sister Nancy Brinker vowed she would do whatever it took to help find a cure. Despite being diagnosed with breast cancer herself, she launched a breast cancer movement, the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure.

That one small step taken in 1982 has grown into a global movement inspiring thousands of women to join in the fight to help raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.

Each year, women of all ages and from all walks of life participate in one of the three-day walks that are held in 12 cities across the country. In August, a team of nine Western Massachusetts women whose lives have all been touched by cancer are set to participate in the three-day walk that will be held in Boston.

The group includes members from Westfield, Agawam, the Florence section of Northampton, Holyoke, and Somers, Conn. Five are registered to do the actual walk, while the others, who have done the walk before, will support them by being their personal crew.

But before any of them can participate, each must commit to raising $2,200.

This year, instead of raising money individually, they have joined forces as a team, calling themselves, “Simply the Breast” and are at work to raise at least $15,000 with a series of fund-raisers over the summer.

On June 2 they will hold a used book sale outside the Westfield Athenaeum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A pancake breakfast will follow on June 23 at Applebee’s restaurant on Route 20.

A “Party In Pink” will be held July 14 at the Sons of Erin on Williams Street from 7 p.m. to midnight.

All proceeds above their goal will be donated to the Cancer House of Hope, which has houses in Westfield and Springfield.

Jenn Cohen, of Agawam, whose aunt is a cancer survivor, said she felt surrounded by an aura of love during her first walk.

“Everywhere I looked, people were helping people. I met one woman who was two days off chemo. She was walking,” Cohen said. “I met another who had undergone a double mastectomy. She was 23 years old and walking. I became thankful for the legs that carried me mile after mile, and thankful that my body is healthy and the ailments I experience are very small by comparison.”

When Westfield resident Eileen Doherty walks, she carries photos of her brother, who died of cancer, and her mom and two friends who were diagnosed with the disease. “If I get tired, I take the photos out to remind myself of the journey they have been on and the walk seems easier,” she said.

But in spite of the sadness of the past, they don’t dwell on it, choosing rather to focus on the future.

Jan Paige, of Westfield, is a 10-year survivor and walks with the hopes that her children and children’s children will never have to worry about cancer.

For Karen Miller, of Westfield, this will be her sixth walk. She lost two aunts to breast cancer, and has three more who are survivors. She said she has walked in the sunshine, sleet, rain, snow and humidity, and will continue to do so because it’s a worthy cause and the effects cancer has had on her family.

The Boston walk will take place on Aug. 3, 4 and 5. There will be no plush hotels for these women; the accommodations will be tents set up in a field that has been described as a “giant tent city.”

source : www.masslive.com