Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer brings out a crowd
Published: May 8, 2005
Hundreds of mothers, daughters and sisters - some with hairless heads and most in pink hats and shirts - cried as they marched through an applauding crowd yesterday in the breast cancer survivors’ parade.
The poignant moment was a highlight of the Sixth Annual Komen NC Triad Race for the Cure.
“In celebration of … Mom!” said signs worn by many of the more than 10,000 walkers, runners and spectators who gathered shortly before 9 a.m. near the Old Salem Visitor Center for the milelong fun run and 5K.
It was such a huge mob that it took six minutes to reach the start line for those at the back of the pack as the race got under way.
Somewhere in that crowd and walking with a friend was 7-year-old Courtney Rhoades. The “in celebration of … Mom!” sign she wore, and her birthday, are reminders of how long her mother has been a survivor of breast cancer.
Courtney was born Jan. 7, 1998. Five weeks later, her mother, Lisa Rhoades, felt a breast lump that wouldn’t go away. She thought she had a clogged milk duct. When a surgeon went in to remove what he thought was a calcified deposit, he found cancer.
Rhoades had a lumpectomy, four rounds of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation. She remembers her hair growing back by Halloween.
She pushed Courtney’s stroller on the cold, rainy morning that so many of the participants still recall of that first Komen NC Triad Race for the Cure on April 15, 2000. Rhoades said she felt OK by then, giving credit to good medical care and her daughter.
“I had the joy of having a child around, so that kept my spirits high,” she said.
The mother and daughter have been at every Komen NC Triad Race for the Cure since. They’re joined now by 3-year-old Ashley, born to Rhoades and husband Mark, since Rhoades’ cancer treatment.
Yesterday, mom worked at a survivors tent to offer food as her parents pushed Ashley in a stroller on the race course at Salem Academy and College. Courtney ventured out for her first race without her mom beside her.
“It helps if you have a buddy, just like all the survivors,” Rhoades said.
Someone who has been a buddy to many cancer survivors was at the tent. Sharon Murphy, the executive director of the Derrick L. Davis Forsyth Regional Cancer Center, shared a hug with a woman who lifted a cap briefly to show her hair growing back.
This time last year, Murphy was undergoing radiation treatment for breast cancer.
She still walked.
“I felt a little tired but good,” she said. “I felt very blessed.”
Murphy is a board member of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s local affiliate She has been involved in the Race for the Cure since the beginning and has done regular breast self-exams.
She never felt a lump. She had no family history of breast cancer.
“It showed up on a mammogram,” Murphy said. “I really, really encourage mammograms.”
Promoting self-exams, mammograms and other regular medical screenings is part of the education effort of the Race for the Cure.
Another part of the event is to raise money for research, education, screening and treatment. The group had a goal of raising $425,000 this year. It will be several weeks before they know a total, as pledges continue to come in. Last year’s race raised more than $482,000. That brought the total raised since the race began to $2.3 million.
Sounding handheld airhorns to start yesterday’s race were the original organizers: Brooke Burr, Pam Versaggi, Cindy Christopher and Susan King.
“When the four of us started this about six years ago, we never dreamed it would grow to this level and we want to thank all of the volunteers and participants,” Burr told the crowd.
Five kilometers later, a man crossed the finish line in a sweat-drenched shirt with black marker ink running down the front, leaving his handwritten message looking as if it were stained with tears, but still legible.
“In memory of mom,” it said.
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