A sea of pink bloomed in the middle of Central Park on Sunday, October 17 and blossomed along a five-mile course as people cheered and helped the pastel pink color flourish.
It was the annual Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk in New York City, the American Cancer Society’s primary event to raise money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer.
Pink ribbons were on the thousands of walkers, pink balloons at the entrances, pink hats, pink t-shirts, and pink signs lining the 5-mile course through and around Central Park. You name it and it was pink.
October is the 20th annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month and my three roommates, Robyn Atkachunas, Erin Teeling, Allison Schick and I headed into the city to help the good cause.
Robyn was responsible for getting the three of us involved in the event. She sadly lost her mother to breast cancer eight years ago. She has become very involved in breast cancer fundraisers and awareness events and participates in Making Strides every year.
The four of us raised over $200 to donate to the cause.
We caught the 8:27 a.m. train out of the Fairfield station and made our way to the park. After registering in the middle of the green, we passed through an archway of pink and white balloons to begin the walk.
As we walked and wound our way around Central Park, I noticed many people had t-shirts and banners with pictures of women. The women had died of breast cancer and their families, friends and coworkers were walking in memory of them and to raise money to help other sufferers.
So many groups of people still stick out in my mind. There was a large group of about twenty people all walking together wearing matching pink sweatshirts. The front depicted a collage of photos of an elderly woman.
There were pictures of her as a young woman, with her grandchildren, and some hospital photos. On the back of the sweatshirts read “For Gram, 1935-2004, we love you.”
Another group carried a banner with a photo of a young blonde woman on her wedding day. The man next to her, most likely the groom, carried one end of the banner. The message on the banner read, “Lisa, you will always be our angel, 1975-2003.” She was 28 years old.
Volunteers lined the course and cheered the walkers on at every step of the way, thanking us for getting involved and coming out today to support the cause.
They wore whistles, carried bullhorns and applauded for all the participants.
Many women walking were survivors of breast cancer themselves and wore special pink pins along with the ribbons every walker received. One woman broke down into tears at the end of the walk, as she had been diagnosed with cancer two years ago and is now in remission.
At the end of the walk, we were given a snack and a drink. A stage was set up with performers to entertain the crowd while various tents were set up where you could buy t-shirts, hats, make donations or meet survivors of breast cancer and hear their stories.
“It turned out to be a really fun day,” said Teeling. “It was a great way to get involved and raise money for an awesome cause.”
Making Strides, a non-competitive walk designed to raise money and awareness about breast cancer, has raised over $130 million dollars since 1993 with the help of over 2 million walkers to support the American Cancer Society’s live-saving research, education, patient support and advocacy programs.
Four-hundred thousand walkers raised $28 million dollars last year and Making Strides is on track to better that goal this year through the more than 100 walks taking place throughout the United States.
Breast cancer strikes more than 200,000 women each year and will claim the lives of more than 40,000. Making Strides hopes to find better ways to prevent, detect and treat breast cancer.
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