Your Turn
Special event helps in fight vs. breast cancer
SUSAN ADDELSTON Guest Column
The Komen sisters, Susan and Nancy, were born into the 1940s baby boom generation and brought up in Peoria, Ill. Their lives were normal with a string of good schools, fun activities, handsome boyfriends, good marriages and solid parents. However, with Susan's devastating diagnosis of breast cancer at age 30 that all rapidly changed. No course of treatment could stop the raging cells in her body and she died in 1980 at the age of 36. Nancy promised her older sister that she would dedicate her life to finding a cure. In fulfilling that promise, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Foundation, now known as the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, was established 25 years ago with the mission of funding research, providing screening, encouraging varied treatments and ending this scourge. Nancy, herself, was later diagnosed and aggressively treated for breast cancer.

The foundation is the single largest private funder of research and to date has raised more than $600 million. Seventyfive percent of money raised stays in our state to fund mammograms and treatments for those who cannot afford them. The remaining 25 percent is remitted to the foundation's headquarters in Texas for additional research grants.

Even at this 21st century date, getting the word out about this invasive disease is a daunting task. It is hard to believe that too many women still do not get yearly preventive exams, and that men (who form an unfortunately growing percentage of new cases) think they do not have to worry about it. Wrong.

While the origins of this disease can be genetic, lifestyle related (diet, environment), or still unknown, it is an equal opportunity killer if left undiagnosed or treated.

Those who have benefited from the work of the Komen Foundation are not shy about sharing their life stories - from the initial horror and fear at diagnosis to their eventual triumph due to the best possible medical care. This all comes with a price, however. All acknowledge that where and how one is treated makes a huge difference. That's where the state-of-the-art research techniques of the Komen Foundation helps enormously.

Treatment is really lifechanging and challenging for those who have this scourge. The survivors are not just the ones with the diagnosis, but all the humans whose lives they interact with - and that's all of us.

Jackson Walks with the Women's Club at Westlake would like to invite everyone to show how much they care.

On Oct. 4 at 8 a.m., please join us at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson and help eradicate breast cancer. Parking before 9 a.m. for the walk is free. Anybody who walks will be admitted for half-price to Great Adventure that day.

Just a few years ago, the Women's Club took this challenge upon themselves. In the last four years they have raised more than $150,000. Last year more than 1,000 people walked in Johnson Park in Jackson.

This will be the only Komen Race for the Cure in New Jersey this year. Already every adult community in Jackson has pledged to participate. Our town's elementary schools have in the past gotten many sponsors and raised $100,000 on their own. Here's an example of "... and the little children shall lead them ..."

For more information and details please contact Jackson Walks by calling Bobbie Rivere, (732) 833-8384 or Miriam Applebaum, (732) 276-2216.

You can also check out Komencsnj.org to register to participate or to sponsor someone. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but it is also a yearround effort.

Susan Addelston is a resident of the Westlake adult community in Jackson.