Breast-cancer fundraiser attracts an estimated 3,300 to 3-mile walkÂ
Rose Brandt took a long walk Sunday morning, one she’d been wanting to take for so long.
Just shy of her first anniversary of being cancer-free, Brandt proudly wore a pink sash with “Survivor” in white block letters as she took part in the fourth annual American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk Sunday at the Tucson Mall.
“I’ve actually tried to come to this the last couple of years, but I was just too emotional,” said Brandt, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2004 but had her final chemotherapy treatment last Halloween. “My friends got me to come out this time, and now I’m going to do this every year.”
Brandt, a registered nurse at Northwest Medical Center, was among more than 3,600 participants in the event, which raised money for breast-cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services.
The three-mile walk raised $196,600, said Erika Sedillo, regional media relations director for the American Cancer Society’s Great West Division. Last year’s walk drew 1,300 participants and raised more than $100,000.
“We went over our goal, so we’re ecstatic,” Sedillo said.
Most participants Sunday were decked out in lavender shirts with the phrase “Hope Starts Here” above three pink ribbons, with the backs listing various teams that formed to raise money for the event.
David Barnes walked with his wife, Lisa, and 7-year-old son, Grayson, part of a group representing a local retirement community that altogether raised about $2,000.
David Barnes lost his father to cancer in 1988, he said, “so it’s personal. We also wanted Grayson to participate in something bigger than himself.”
Close to 50 students from Pusch Ridge Christian Academy walked under the team name Football 4-Him. The group included sophomore Sammy Bennett, 15, who said he ran parts of the course around the perimeter of the mall despite still feeling the bumps and bruises from Friday night’s varsity football victory.
“I raised $125, and we had a team goal of $100 per person,” said Bennett, who said a family friend has breast cancer but is “just coming out of it.”
One of the final groups to cross the finish line was a tight pack of 14 wearing shirts with “Whatever It Takes” on the front and on the back a memorial to Pichi, the nickname of Lupe Romero’s daughter Shirley, who died 18 months ago of breast cancer.
“She was so strong and healthy,” Lupe said of her daughter, a corrections officer from Phoenix. “The doctors told her she was going to live until she was 99, but she only made it 10 months.”
Against a cool, gray sky, the bright pink wigs worn by Kim Youngand her co-workers from event sponsor Radiology Ltd. stood out in a sea of walkers wearing personalized T-shirts or pictures of lost loved ones pinned to their clothing.
“You look around, and you’ve got cancer survivors walking with us,” Young said. “This is our work, so it makes it that much more rewarding to see this.”
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