The parade of pink
I was driving through downtown Seattle on a recent Sunday afternoon when I saw them; a group of women of all ages, all dressed in pink, walking triumphantly down the sidewalk.
I continued to pass them as I drove through town. When I turned toward the waterfront, I found more of them. There must have been hundreds of women filing down the sidewalk, turning back into town just south of the Pike Place Market. At the time, I didn’t know where they were headed. But I instantly knew why they were walking.
These women were walking for breast cancer survivors, in support of breast cancer research, and against breast cancer itself. More than 3,000 women took part in the three-day walk in the Seattle area, which ended that Sunday afternoon at the base of the Space Needle. The walkers all raised at least $2,200 each for breast cancer research, as well as clinical and outreach programs. The event was held in 14 cities nationwide.
Breast cancer affects all of us. It’s the most common cancer among women, with an estimated 182,460 new cases to be diagnosed in women during 2008. My grandmother had breast cancer, and survived. So did one of my bosses (and a friend) at a recent job. The five-year survival rate for breast cancer is now 98 percent when the cancer is caught early -- that’s giant improvement from 1982, when the five-year survival rate was just 74 percent – but that 5 percent mortality rate remains too large.
The battle against breast cancer
How can you join the fight against breast cancer? That’s the purpose of this Web site, to help you get involved. We’ll go over some basic breast cancer information, and then we’ll review how you can best contribute to the cause. Let’s get started.
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