Cancer survivors walk for a cure

ALBANY - More than 13,000 people flooded Washington Park Sunday morning dressed in white, pink and blue to participate in the 13th annual American Cancer Society "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer" walk, which is known as the largest breast cancer awareness event in the Capital Region.

Streets of the park, as well as much of its green space, were filled with an overwhelming crowd of men, women and families of all ages who were either cancer survivors themselves, family members of someone who had been afflicted by it or people who simply wanted to help
support the worthy cause.

In 2007, roughly the same number of people participated in the walk and helped to raise more than $900,000 to support breast cancer research and education, in addition to advocacy and patient-service programs.

Anthony Marino, the regional vice president for the American Cancer Society, hoped this year's event would yield even greater results.

"As far as raising money goes, our volunteers and teams we have here do a fantastic job, and we're hoping to raise more than $1 million this year from this event alone," Marino said, who ended up meeting his goal with a total of approximately $1,050,000 raised by the end of the day.

To help illustrate how money raised by the event is used, Marino explained that the ACS recently awarded a grant of $960,000 to Albany Medical Center for breast cancer research that is being conducted by Ceshi Chen and his team of doctors. According to Marino, Chen's team is looking to target and eliminate cells which could become cancerous before someone ever has to hear the word "cancer."

"To think that that kind of groundbreaking research is taking place right in our community just helps with these types of events because people understand the progress that is being made," Marino said.

Emotional walkers gathered in the park for hours before the walk kicked off at noon as they registered for the event, caught up with old friends, and shared some of their life-changing experiences with others who had suffered similar afflictions.

With a pink "survivor" shirt and matching ribbon draped over her, Barbara Temple, of Lansingburgh, came out to support the event for the first time after completing her radiation therapy just one month ago.

"It's a little scary, but it feels good to be out here after dealing with it," Temple said, who noted that her mother had been diagnosed around the same time she had, in May, but unfortunately fell victim to the disease.

Supported by her friends, Rosa and Gabriel Ramos, of South Troy, Temple said she attended the walk because she wanted to help others who had dealt with breast cancer, as she had, as well as those who have only recently been diagnosed.

"I would tell them that they would survive and that things would be OK," she said. "The important thing to remember is that early detection saves lives."

Donya Jackson, of Albany, said she felt blessed to have survived her battle with breast cancer in 2007 as well as former struggles with a heart attack and stroke.

"I'm really blessed to be out here walking today and it is phenomenal to see so many other people out here," Jackson said, who walked along with supporting members of her family.

Pat Marsh, of Albany, who survived breast cancer in 2000, walked in the event with her daughter and granddaughter to help raise awareness of the disease for both men and women who may be afflicted by it.

"I didn't have a very difficult time with it because of early detection, but this is a wonderful event since there are a lot of people who struggle with the disease," Marsh said.

In addition to the money raised, Marino said it was the individuals and teams who designed their custom T-shirts, made their own signs and did other creative things such as walking their dogs with pink leashes, which gave the event its unique feel.

SOURCE: ©The Saratogian 2008