My First Breast Cancer Walk As A Survivor

This past weekend I was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to give some lectures at their Annual Breast Cancer Conference. This has always been a special conference and affiliation for me for several reasons. First off, I get to visit my favorite Aunt Marge, Uncle Bob, my cousin Bill and his lovely wife Amy. Some of my favorite childhood memories were made on trips to see these special and beloved relatives and that has not changed over several decades. Cedar Rapids is also special in that my parents met at Coe College. Finally, I have had the great privilege of working with Dr. Arnold Honick, who is a dedicated and compassionate Radiologist who has always supported his staff. We conducted a Train-the-Trainer (T3) Mammography Program for their group, whose practice reads for facilities throughout the state, and he told me that they continue to see an improvement in image quality due to their application of standardized positioning techniques that they have implemented and sustained since the training!

On the day of conference, they told me that their 28th Annual Community Breast Cancer Walk ‘Especially For You,’ co-founded by Mercy Hospital and General Mills, was being held that weekend. I had spent six days in Mercy Hospital receiving intensive care following a very scary and dangerous neutropenic fever episode. I believe their excellent care and compassion helped to save my life, so I immediately wanted to help support this cause. This would be my first Breast Cancer Walk as a Survivor.

I went with several other of the Mammo Techs who I know in Cedar Rapids and who have become friends over the years: Janette, Wendy and Andrea, plus a gaggle of kids and other relatives and friends. As Radiology Consultants of Iowa (RCI) was a major donor and supporter of the walk, Janette was able to get us VIP passes. It was a rainy day, so we got up close parking and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast, which was served on the top floor of the hospital. We all had on our special event T-shirts and "Survivors Got a ‘Buff", which could be worn as a headband or scarf. I wrote on my ‘Race Tag’ (which contained our ID numbers to track the fastest runners, which was of no use to me... haha): "I am walking for: Joan, Sally, Karen, Anita, Kim, Kathy, Sue, Rhonda, Marcia..." I ran out of room; a sobering thought.

I then joined the other hundreds of survivors for a special picture which was taken surrounding a pink firetruck. I grabbed my friend, Ann Marie, who I met earlier and we tried to climb to the top of truck; encouraged and assisted by the others who had already made it up there. Everyone was laughing, smiling and cheering as our pictures were being taken by a photographer posted high above on a crane. It was truly a celebration and I felt a wave of emotion as I stood and cheered with my new ‘sisterhood’. Although it was lightly raining, it did not ‘dampen' anyone’s enthusiasm! We all walked, talked and hugged the entire time. It was truly a special occasion filled with many emotions: pride, strength, empathy, encouragement, and joy. We were celebrating the lives of those who lost their battle with breast cancer, but are still beloved and remembered and also for those of us who have beaten breast cancer, as well as those who will be diagnosed and cured.

There are many walks taking place across the country for Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I encourage you to participate. If you can, donate money, which goes to assisting breast cancer research, detection and treatment. But nothing is as powerful and as moving as walking together with the thousands of survivors, patients, friends, family and strangers who join hands to support this most important cause. It is experiences like this that feed your heart and soul. It is your (our) participation that truly gives hope to those of us who have fought breast cancer and to those who will.

Hope is truly the most precious of gifts!

A Special thank you to Especially for You® Race Against

Breast Cancer for providing the photographs.