{"id":249349,"date":"2015-10-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/balboa-park-is-turning-pink-again\/"},"modified":"2015-10-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T07:00:00","slug":"balboa-park-is-turning-pink-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/balboa-park-is-turning-pink-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Balboa Park is turning pink again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Race for the Cure returns Nov. 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Hutton Marshall<\/p>\n

Laura Farmer Sherman said the walk back to work from her doctor\u2019s office was surreal. She was processing the fact that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer after getting her first mammogram. She would soon be given just a 20 percent chance of survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was 11 years ago, and I woke up to kind of a new reality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sherman, 42 at the time, worked in the communications department at Sempra Energy. Her corporate gig provided good health insurance, but upon entering chemotherapy, she realized that this set her apart from many local women battling the disease.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A breast-cancer survivor gets some loving at a previous Komen San Diego Race for the Cure.
(Photos courtesy of Komen San Diego)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIt turned out that in my chemo unit, I was the only woman out of 35 who had insurance. And I did not think that was going on in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she fought the disease, she resolved that were she to recover, she would work to improve this situation for other women: those lacking insurance, as well as those just needing a hot meal or to be driven across town.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember thinking, \u2018Well I have breast cancer, I might not make it, but I\u2019m going to try to do something about this. And that\u2019s what I decided to do.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Today, Sherman serves as the CEO of Komen San Diego, the county\u2019s largest breast cancer nonprofit. She\u2019s gearing up for the charity\u2019s biggest annual event, Race for the Cure, on Nov. 1 in Balboa Park.<\/p>\n

Every year, Komen San Diego provides over $1 million fighting breast cancer. A portion of the money they raise goes to the national Susan G. Komen organization, which oversees the organization\u2019s enormous research arm, but Komen San Diego\u2019s bread and butter is early-screening mammograms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn San Diego, three out of five women aren\u2019t getting an annual mammogram, which is really important to get, because we know that when it\u2019s found in its earliest stages, breast cancer has a 99 percent survival rate, but the key is you have to catch it early,\u201d Sherman said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A teary-eyed woman involved in Komen
San Diego\u2019s Race for the Cure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While Sherman said that this is their most critical service, it\u2019s far from all they provide. Komen San Diego\u2019s mantra, she added, is to fill any need inhibiting women in San Diego from receiving breast cancer treatment, an approach known as the \u201ccontinuum of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

To ensure that Komen San Diego provides the service San Diegans actually need, they do a study every four years on trends related to breast cancer treatment in San Diego.<\/p>\n

There is a worrying racial divide in breast cancer mortality rates, Sherman said. African-American women in San Diego have a much higher percent mortality rate than white women, despite only having a slightly higher late-stage incidence rate.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfrican-American women have a 41 percent higher mortality rate than their Caucasian counterparts, and that is criminal,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cThere is no reason that that should be happening, but in San Diego that is what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rochelle Bradley, one of this year\u2019s honorary survivors who will lead the walk at this year\u2019s Race for the Cure, is no stranger to breast cancer. Aside from battling it for years, she lost her father to the disease, and several other relatives have been diagnosed too. In her experience, catching breast cancer as early as possible is the key to survival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t stress how important it is to get a mammogram. How important it is to communicate with your doctor. How important it is to do your self-exams. Communicate with your doctors about your family history if you have any,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n

At 8 a.m. Nov. 1, an estimated 20,000 San Diegans will once again show up to Balboa Park for this year\u2019s Race for the Cure, which accounts for 78 percent of Komen San Diego\u2019s budget revenues. It\u2019s a vastly important event for the nonprofit, and, Sherman said, for breast cancer survivors as well.<\/p>\n

\"Hoards<\/a>
Hoards of people show their support in the fight against breast cancer at a
previous Race for the Cure.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe Race for the Cure allows thousands of people in San Diego to stand up for the women that can\u2019t stand up for themselves,\u201d Sherman said. \u201cThere are so many 5ks to choose from these days but this one is really special in the tremendous impact it makes in the community. \u2026 So we raise about $1.5 million, and all that money stays here to fund everything an uninsured woman and her family needs to make it through a breast cancer diagnosis, and survive and thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not too late to register for the event, which you can do online or the morning of the event for $40 (which includes a T-shirt). For more information, visit komensandiego.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Comun\u00edquese con Hutton Marshall al <\/em>jhuttonmarshall@gmail.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Race for the Cure returns Nov. 1 By Hutton Marshall Laura Farmer Sherman said the walk back to work from her doctor\u2019s office was surreal. She was processing the fact that she had just been diagnosed with breast cancer after getting her first mammogram. She would soon be given just a 20 percent chance of […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":249350,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Balboa Park is turning pink again","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-249349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}