Tammy McMillan has been attending the Susan G. Komen More Than Pink Walk for years in support of loved ones affected by breast cancer. But she wasn’t so sure about doing this year’s 2-mile stroll through Schenley Park.
The 56-year-old Penn Hills resident was diagnosed with breast cancer in November.
The dynamics of the event have shifted. In years past, it was a celebration of how her sorority sister Selena Calloway, 55, of Monroeville had endured cancer and come out the other side.
“Last year, I’m hopping around, I’m hugging people,” she said. “Now, it’s like, I’m in it.”
Thousands of cancer survivors and their family, friends and co-workers turned out Sunday for the 33rd year of what was formerly known as the Race for the Cure. Organizers changed the name in the late 2010s to reflect a broader mission and eliminated a 5K race to acknowledge most participants’ preference for walking.
The event raises funds and awareness for breast cancer research, care, prevention and advocacy.
One individual pulled together almost $9,000 as of about 9 a.m., and the most productive fundraising group nearly cleared $10,000. The event had raised about $365,000 as of noon.
It also brought together survivors at all points in their journey with the disease, from the newly diagnosed to those who’ve long been in remission.
“I’m kind of like a beacon of encouragement,” Calloway said. “You have to be strong for other people who are going through the process.”
The walk and pre-walk gathering on Flagstaff Hill can be solemn. In one tent, postcards with names of lost mothers, grandmothers, wives, daughters, sisters and aunts dangled in the wind.
But there’s a festival-like energy to it, too, and a willingness among participants to have a laugh. Jerry Broderick, 66, of Shaler was there to support his wife, Betty, who has been cancer-free since 2010. He stuck out in his bright pink wig.
“When your wife survives cancer, she asks you to wear a wig, you wear it,” he said.
Jessica George and friends, all of Williamsport, wore matching T-shirts Sunday with the slogan “Boobs and Beer,” a nod to the craft brewery one of them owns.
George, 47, is undergoing treatment for breast cancer. The Komen Walk gave her and her crew “an excuse to get together and get into some shenanigans,” she said.
Amid the generally uplifting vibe were reminders of the gaps in screening and treatment that make such events necessary.
Amy Mroz, 58, of Forest Hills walked and talked about how she got regular mammograms for about 20 years. Then, her insurance company weighed in to say they were no longer necessary.
A few years later, she was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer.
Mroz has another surgery on the horizon but said she’s through the worst of her treatment. Like so many others, she was doing the walk for the first time as a survivor.
Her hard-won advice to other women: “You can be your own strongest advocate.”
