Why We Walk
written by Carol Toscano
On July 8, 9, and 10, with two of my friends, Linda and Marie, I walked in the Boston Breast Cancer 3-Day, a 60-mile trek through two states sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. As a team, we raised nearly $9,000, our largest single donation from the makers of True Lemon®! In total, the Boston walk raised a whopping 3.5 million dollars – all of it used by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund to support research, education, screening, treatment and prevention of breast cancer. Their mission is to eradicate breast cancer as a life threatening disease. That’s one good reason to walk.

So why do we walk? “We walk because we believe.” This is the mantra of the Breast Cancer 3-Day. “We believe in a world without breast cancer.”

Why do I walk?

I walk in memory of my aunt, a woman I’d never known without breast cancer. When I was born in 1964, she’d already had it for two years. In 1972, by the time I was eight, she was gone. In those days, treatment was minimal. You could expect a mastectomy and some radiation and hope for the best.

I walk in honor of my mother and all of the many family members left behind. When I signed up to do this walk the first time, I realized that my mother was about the age I am now when she took care of her dying sister. I couldn’t imagine what that would be like for me today.

According to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the following is true:

It sounds grim, but there is hope. Thanks to greater awareness, due in part to walks like the Breast Cancer 3-Day, things are changing. Currently, in the US, there are more than two million breast cancer survivors and the five-year survival rate for women with localized breast cancer is 95 percent. That’s the good news, which brings me back to the walk.

There were 1,300 women and men that walked in Boston. Almost everyone I spoke with along the route walked either in memory of, or in honor of someone they knew with breast cancer. Not only is the walk physically challenging (we went through months of physical training before the walk to prepare), it’s emotionally challenging as well. Every walker had his or her own story and reason to walk. After speaking with many of the walkers, I learned that the 3-Day is deeply personal – not just about eradication (though that is ultimately the goal), but also about honoring our loved ones who didn’t make it and about celebrating the survivors – celebration is key.

One uniquely special aspect of the Boston walk is the Youth Core, a group of children who volunteer to help out and cheer us on along the route. They filled up our water bottles, entertained us with songs, distributed stickers, and baked a lot of cookies. At dinner on day two, the children were introduced to us on stage. Most were either grandchildren or children of women with the disease; some had survived, some hadn’t. One young girl had volunteered in honor of her mother who had walked in the New York 3-Day in 2004, but had died from breast cancer in March 2005. That really hit home. I had also walked in the 2004 New York 3-Day. I couldn’t help but wonder if she was someone I had met or spoken with along the way. Anyway, here was her young daughter carrying on in her honor – another reason to keep walking, mile after mile, in spite of blisters, sprains, muscle soreness, fatigue and rain and heat. At opening ceremonies, one speaker said the following: that no matter how bad we felt walking or how tired we got, it would never be as bad as having the disease and having to endure the treatment. Imagine this: having breast cancer and walking 60 miles simultaneously – unthinkable.

When I signed up in 2004 for the New York 3-Day, I had no expectations. I was worried about the fundraising (we each had to raise a minimum of $2,100) and training (60 miles is no stroll in the park). The cause itself was enough for me to sign up on my own. I didn’t know anyone else doing it. Along the way, I met Marie and some other women and we walked as a group. Before the walk, one of my donors suggested that this experience could be life changing for me. I was too worried about the training and the fundraising to reflect upon what she’d said. I trained a lot and managed to raise a few hundred dollars more than the minimum. But, at the end of 60 miles, crossing the finish line to hundreds of cheering people who didn’t even know my name, thanking me for what I’d just done, overwhelmed me in ways I can’t describe. I was changed.

In 2005, I had apparently been changed enough to sign up again in another state. I was also changed enough to think I could raise twice as much money. And, I managed to talk my friend Linda into signing up with me. With the support of my family, friends and coworkers and the amazing people who make True Lemon® (it was important to me that our sponsor produced a product that promoted good health – it’s well documented that vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant in the fight against cancer!), I just about made my financial goal and completed another 60 miles. Thanks to the makers of True Lemon®, we were supplied with enough samples of True Lemon® for everyone on the walk and were outfitted in “True Love True Lemon®” t-shirts. Our team, “The Lemonheads,” prevailed, and in spite of some blisters and aches, we all completed the 60-mile course. When the flag was raised at closing ceremonies and the breast-cancer survivors dressed in pink entered the circle we had formed, they were met with an ovation of applause and tears – certainly bittersweet, but a celebration nonetheless. We had officially become part of the cure and look forward to the day when we won’t have to walk so far to find it.

For more information on breast cancer, the Breast Cancer 3-Day or the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, please visit www.komen.org.