While there’s life, there’s hope. ” Marcus Tullius Cicero
In the face of adversity, hope rings true for the vast majority of mankind ” and yet, when life hands you hurdle after hurdle, you must keep on jumping.
That is something known only too well for a group of individuals who have yet again decided to host and or attend the 11th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday, Dec. 2, at Balboa Park beginning at 8 a.m.
“The race is really an event of celebration of survival and of honor for the people who have lost their battle against breast cancer,” said Laura Farmer, director of communications and community relations for the San Diego Race for the Cure. “It is a place of a tremendously emotional experience where you see a sea of pink, and about 15,000 people are expected to be there. It is not just a race but more like a party, and there are hundreds of vendors, booths, bands, all kinds of entertainment and information.”
The Race for the Cure also raises money, and in fact remains the organization’s largest fund-raising event, which can yield as much as $1 million a year. The money is used to help uninsured and underinsured women in San Diego and also to provide grants to other organizations that are dedicated to helping local women.
This year’s event almost became the race that never happened. Originally scheduled for Nov. 4 ” always taking place on the heels of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October ” the fires that burned around the county and sent thousands packing meant that a later date would be more prudent.
So organizers held onto the hope that the event, which means so much to so many, should not be cancelled, only postponed.
“As honorary survivor of the year 2007 for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, it is my personal goal to raise awareness of breast cancer in San Diego,” said breast cancer survivor and participant Mattie Mills. “I have been sharing my personal survival story with many people around San Diego and I hope to educate, inspire and encourage them all.”
About 1,000 breast cancer survivors are expected to come out for race day, which kicks off with an opening ceremony for survivors and features a survivors’ village, a women’s drum circle, a chance to do something active during the 5K event, the Komen Kids for the Cure Race, the Sleep in for the Cure, the opportunity to listen to and participate in discussions and emotions, plus the option to make a difference by sponsoring someone or purchasing this year’s official Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure T-shirt.
“The goal of the race is to essentially first raise funds for the women in San Diego County,” said Farmer, also a breast cancer survivor who does not mind sharing her story with others. “The second goal is raise education and awareness about breast cancer and its causes and risks and encourage early detection, and the third is to honor the people who have undertaken the battle, who have lost their battle or who are surviving the disease.”
The Race for the Cure, now being held in about 122 cities across the country and even around the globe in places such as Rome, remains the signature event for the Susan G. Komen For the Cure organization, which was launched in 1982 when Nancy Brinker decided to honor her sister, Susan G. Komen, who had lost her life to breast cancer at the age of 36, and began the battle that would be undertaken to find a cure for breast cancer.
Last year was the San Diego affiliate’s 10th anniversary. The group had a stellar year financially as people came out in droves to participate and honor the decade-long celebration of hope, survival and ultimately curing the plague that continues to serve as the second leading cause of cancer death of women in the United States.
“We are close to finding a cure for cancer, and I can feel it in my bones,” Mills said. “I also try to encourage everyone to be positive and to keep a survivor’s attitude. Cancer or no cancer, life is hard enough.”
For information or to sponsor a participant, visit www.komensandiego.org.