Making Strides Against Breast Cancer

On Sunday thousands of people across the state will be walking to raise dollars and awareness to fight breast cancer in New Jersey. “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walks will take place in Point Pleasant Beach and five other locations in New Jersey and they are among the American Cancer Society’s biggest events of the year. These walks are a true example of communities coming together to educate, inform, celebrate and pay tribute
to those who have beaten the disease as well as those who lost brave battles.

If you participate or attend the Making Strides in Point Pleasant Beach you will be awed by the number of teams walking, often identifiable by nicknames of the back of their shirts. Most of the walkers will be wearing blue tee-shirts but the ones who will really stand out are those in pink as these are breast cancer survivors, whose battles have inspired others to join them in the fight against this horrible disease.

“Team Booberang” (yes that’s right) grows each year and Sunday about 50 will be walking under that banner. The woman in pink will be my wife Jane,
a breast cancer survivor who organizes a group of family, friends and co-workers from Manchester Township High School to walk and raise money and hope that some day there will be no such thing as breast cancer. It’s a disease that touches so many and I don’t think I realized it until after my wife went through her ordeal. Now it seems like I’ve run into hundreds who have been impacted, directly or indirectly and while progress is being made there is a long way to go.

Sunday will be an emotional day for many because there will be teams walking for loved ones lost as well as those who are now called survivors. Those tears of sadness are comforted by the fact that there are more tears of joy all the time as women get the message that early detection and prevention are the keys along with raising money for research. If you’re in Point Pleasant Beach for Making Strides on Sunday look for the pink shirts because they are what gives everyone hope.