The joy on people's faces as they crossed the finish line for a charity walk belied the struggles participants had seen or experienced in battling breast cancer.
"Look at how happy everyone is," said Timothy Day, 34, a Washington native who has undergone two mastectomies and taken part in 30 walks nationwide to benefit breast cancer research, education and treatment. "Even in the rain, taking part in the walk makes me grateful that I'm here to see another rainy day and encourage someone else" not to give up.
Berthica Rodriguez-McCleary, left, greets Diane Kerr, right, as Noreen Hildebrand, Kathey McGlauflin and Ellen Rowley finish the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.
(Photos Kevin Clark -- The Washington Post)
|
|
Day, whose breast cancer was diagnosed when he was 18, was talking about the annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which concluded yesterday at L'Enfant Plaza in Southwest Washington after a two-day, 39.3-mile trek -- much of it in the rain.
The walk took participants through the streets of Washington, where they endured heavy rains Saturday. Many suffered from chills and blisters. But by yesterday afternoon, which was sunny and breezy, walkers were all smiles, and many thrust their arms up in victory as they crossed the finish line.
Day, a health care specialist in the District who headed a 77-member medical team for the event, is one of a relatively small number of men with breast cancer. This year, according to estimates, the disease will be diagnosed in about 1,600 men and more than 200,000 women.
The noncompetitive charity walk included people of all ages and physical conditions, 181 of them breast cancer survivors. Most -- 1,860 walkers and 340 volunteer coordinators -- were from the District, Maryland and Virginia. But some came from 33 other states, said Susan Heaney, communications director for the Avon Foundation, which sponsored and organized the walk.
This was the third year the two-day event was held in the District, and it is scheduled to return next year. Three-day breast cancer walks, benefiting but not organized by the foundation, were held from 2000 to 2002.
This year's walkers and crew members raised more than $5.2 million.
Allison Zion, 46, of Olney, said she raised more than $7,300 from family, friends and parents of students she taught for 14 years at Children's Learning Center in Rockville. Yesterday marked the first anniversary "of the beginning of my battle with cancer," said Zion, who believes she is cancer free after surgery and radiation treatments.
Another walker, Aimee Lauren Polisky, 35, a Woodbridge wedding gown designer, sews a small pink ribbon inside the left breast of each gown "to inspire and remind women to be their own best friend when it comes to their health and future."
Doctors removed a malignant lump from Polisky's breast three years ago. She said they thought that she was too young to need a mammogram and that the lump couldn't be cancer. But she "sensed" it was cancer and kept pressing the issue. Yesterday, she walked with a team of four friends, the "Hopeful Honeys," all proudly displaying "Cancer Sucks" buttons.
About half the money raised, $2.73 million, will go to local and national organizations that provide breast care for poor and other medically underserved people, Avon Foundation President Kathleen Walas announced at the closing ceremony. She said the foundation will make other grants to local and national organizations throughout the year.
One local recipient is Capital Breast Care Center, a clinic in Southeast Washington that opened a year ago and is part of Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. It will receive $900,000 to provide breast health and screening services for women who have no insurance coverage or who cannot afford medical treatment.
Food and Friends, on Riggs Road NE, was awarded $200,000 to continue the Avon Foundation Pink Ribbon Delivery Program, which for four years has provided meals and nutritional counseling to homebound breast cancer patients and their families.
Other grant recipients included the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Bethesda and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.
The Avon Foundation provides ongoing support for half a dozen other cancer programs in the region.
