Thousands of pink-clad racers will take over San Diego this weekend. The 13th annual Susan G. Komen San Diego Race for the Cure will be held in Balboa Park on Sunday morning. “There\u2019s lots of entertainment,” said Ocean Beach resident Rachel Lipsitz. “There\u2019s all kinds of pink banners and shirts and hats and people are really teaming up and coming together to create a really fun environment.” The five-kilometer run and fitness walk begins at 8 a.m. It is preceded by a survivor ceremony at 7:30 a.m. and followed by a health expo that will have booths set up by sponsors and a healthy food area. “The race will kick off with a ceremony that honors those survivors in attendance and also celebrates the lives of those we may have lost to breast cancer,” Lipsitz said. Of the money raised during the race, 75 percent will remain in San Diego to provide breast health research, diagnostics, screening, treatment, services and education for all women and 25 percent will go to national research. Since 1995, the grassroots organization\u2019s San Diego affiliate has given $8.5 million to local organizations that battle breast cancer. “We\u2019re helping underinsured and uninsured men and women right here get treatment and education and diagnostic services that they need,” Lipsitz said. “So it\u2019s really important that people come out. We hope that people will give what they can and help in any way that they can,” she said. Lipsitz became involved in Race for the Cure because of her aunt, who died from breast cancer. She serves as public relations chair for Komen for the Cure and has participated in the last six races in San Diego. “It\u2019s an organization really dedicated to making a difference and I wanted to be a part of it,” Lipsitz said. This year\u2019s Honorary Breast Cancer Survivor is Amanda Nixon, a South Park resident. Nixon was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 at only 27 years old and has now fully recovered. Nixon first noticed symptoms of her breast cancer in 2005 following a breast reduction \u2014 loss of strength in her arm and a slight mass inside her breast. At the time, Nixon consulted with her plastic surgeon, who said it was most likely scar tissue and not breast cancer, given her age. “Eventually, as I was sent off for a mammogram, my breast had become completely engorged,” Nixon said. “It was purple, it kind of looked like the skin of an orange, it was dimply and my nipple had inverted.” Nixon was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, which occurs in only one of eight breast cancer cases. Her case is also unique because of her age. “I had this image in my mind that it was a grandmother\u2019s disease, and here I am at 27 completely bald with one boob,” Nixon said. “I was thinking this doesn\u2019t seem right.” Following the diagnosis, Nixon went through multiple rounds of chemotherapy, and underwent radiation treatment, a mastectomy and reconstructive surgery all within a 3 1\/2-year span. She said she had tremendous support from her mother and the Young Survivor Coalition throughout the process. “It was one obstacle or one challenge at a time,” Nixon said. “I would get through it and then have a celebration. That\u2019s how I dealt with it.” Nixon will speak at the race and will be participating in her first Race for the Cure. She has done the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk three times. Nixon recommends that all women have a clinical screening once a year and do a monthly self breast exam. She encourages them to simply be familiar with their bodies. “My best piece of advice is that young women should just be familiar with their bodies, know what\u2019s normal and then if something isn\u2019t normal, go have it checked out by a professional,” Nixon said. Although advance registration for the San Diego Race for the Cure has closed, those interested in participating in the race can register on the day of the event starting at 6:30 a.m. For more information about the San Diego Race for the Cure event or to make a donation, visit www.komensandiego.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thousands of pink-clad racers will take over San Diego this weekend. The 13th annual Susan G. Komen San Diego Race for the Cure will be held in Balboa Park on Sunday morning. “There\u2019s lots of entertainment,” said Ocean Beach resident Rachel Lipsitz. “There\u2019s all kinds of pink banners and shirts and hats and people are […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":258461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Breast cancer walk a tribute to life, hope","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258460","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=258460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}