Breast Cancer Fundraiser Most Successful in N.M. History

The 9th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk draws more than 19,000 peaople and $500,000

by ASHLEIGH SANCHEZ

It was a chilly April morning, but that didn’t stop more than 19,000 people, clad in sneakers and armed with hope, from gathering Sunday at the 9th Annual American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

Erika Sedillo, a staff member with the American Cancer Society, said breast cancer is the biggest single killer of women in the United States, but that those who survive the battle with the disease are committed to finding a cure.

Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Sanchez

Gena Love talks to a breast cancer survivor
about a N.M. Department of Health Program.

Survivors and their families joined in that fight by participating in the walk, which kicked of at 8 a.m. Sunday at Cottonwood Mall.

“My job is to help beat cancer, and do
it in our lifetime,” Sedillo said. “It’s a real possibility.”

The five-mile walk started at Cottonwood Mall and wound through the Bosque and along
the Rio Grande.

The Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is the American Cancer Society’s biggest fundraising event in New Mexico, and it has grown every year since its inception, Sedillo said.

She said the event generates funds through donations collected by participants, each of whom is asked to raise at least $100.

“Most of them raise a lot more than that,” Sedillo said. “Blue-Cross Blue-Shield raised the most money last year, and I know this year they held a volleyball tournament to raise money for the walk.”

She said this year’s walk brought in almost $540,000, the largest amount raised by the event in New Mexico to date.

District Executive Director Geraldine Esquivel said the event has been growing exponentially, and this year was no different.

“This event continues to grow every year,” she said. “It’s just so inspiring to see how many people in our community want to bring awareness to this disease.”

Sedillo said it is the effort of volunteers that makes the American Cancer Society succeed at its mission to support advocacy efforts, research, education and service for victims of breast cancer and their families.

“The American Cancer Society is the single largest volunteer organization in the country,” she said. “We couldn’t function without them.”

One such volunteer said her own battles with breast cancer compelled her to do something to help.

“You really feel like you are making a difference when you see so many people coming to this event,” Kathleen McVicker said.
McVicker has attended the Making Strides event every year it has been help, sometimes as a participant and now as a volunteer.

“It’s a beautiful walk, and it’s so inspiring,” she said. “The first time I did it, I crossed the Montano bridge and looked back over my shoulder. I saw all these people gathered for one cause and I thought, ‘Let’s do something.’”

McVicker was first diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease, in 1992. After a single mastectomy and three months of chemotherapy, she was in remission.

Then, in 1994, the cancer struck again, this time in her remaining breast.

“I wasn’t messing around with it, so I just did the second mastectomy,” McVicker said. “It’s not something that ever goes away, really. It’s like there is a cancer bird sitting on your shoulder, and you never know when it’s going to strike again.”

McVicker was one of many survivors attending the walk. Those who had beaten breast cancer walked with white sashes, and many wore signs indicating the number of years they had been cancer free.

But the Making Strides walk was not only about hope Sunday; it was also about remembrance. Many participants wore shirts with messages dedicated to loved ones lost to breast cancer.

Photo courtesy of Ashleigh Sanchez

Members of team Boob-a-licious tie ribbons with names of friends and family lost to breast cancer to a memorial dreamweaver.

The walk featured a memorial where attendees stopped to write names of friends and family lost to breast cancer on pink ribbons, which were then tied to large dream-catchers.

The American Cancer Society estimates that 1,100 women in New Mexico will be newly diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, and another 250 will lose their battle with the disease.

Gena Love, an employee for the New Mexico Department of Health, said another effort of the walk is to raise awareness and increase testing and diagnosis in underserved populations.

Love attended the walk to represent the Department of Health’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, whose mission is to bring testing to women who might not otherwise have access to it, such as those without insurance or Medicaid or living at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level.

“In the early 90s, there was a big health disparity,” Love said. “Mortality was so much higher, particularly with cervical cancer. We have seen that you can decrease mortality with screens. Those areas with higher mortality rates had little to no screening.”

According to the program’s Web site, the program has provided 197,957 clinical breast exams, 122,277 mammograms and 183,609 Pap tests since its creation in 1991.

Those tests were funded by the state of New Mexico, money that would never have come if not for the organized legislative activities of the Cancer Action Network, or CAN.

Nathan Bush, director of government relations for CAN said the network’s mission is to petition government for more funding for breast and cervical cancer in particular. CAN also advocates for many other types of cancer as well.

Bush said members of CAN began petitioning the state four years ago to help fund the federal program that feeds New Mexico’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection program.

“We finally got them to chip in $300,000,” Bush said. “The next year they added $200,000 for a total of $500,000. We’ve been very successful in this state.”

CAN and the American Cancer Society also collaborated last year to raise another $100,000 for the early detection program.

It’s a feat that is nothing new to the American Cancer Society, McVicker said. The non-profit organization is the one of the largest funders of breast cancer research in the country, second only to the federal government.

Its success is made possible by the dedication of volunteers, survivors and their family members, she said.

“Making Strides is a huge family event,” McVicker said. “It’s not only the ones diagnosed, but their family and friends. They bring awareness and honor survivors. That’s why we’re here every year.”

To volunteer or get more information about the American Cancer Society Making Strides event, call 1-800-ACS-2345 or visit Cancer.org/stridesonline.

Published May 1, 2008

Go to Top