Hope’s Angels of Courage ~ Especially for You Breast Cancer Walk ~ October 11

October is Breast Cancer Month and Mercy Medical Center celebrates this with its annual Especially for You Breast Cancer Walk.

This celebration includes The Light Mercy Pink event which has: free pink light bulbs from Alliant Energy, pink frosting and other goodies from General Mills, stickers, face painting and more.  An oncologist will speak on an important topic related to breast cancer and a breast cancer survivor will share their story as the lights begin to dim. Slowly the Mercy sign lights up pink, fireworks explode across the sky and music fills the air. For all survivors, this event creates an emotional bond as we are happy to be with other survivors. On race day you will see 14,000 plus running and walking while all are wearing the same shirt to commemorate the event.

Yet with the challenges of the COVID 19 event and the storm damage, this year’s 30th anniversary celebration of this race will be virtual one. What is a virtual race? A virtual race is a running/walking event that you do on your own time in the location of your choice. So whether you run on a treadmill, jog around the neighborhood or walk around the block, you can still be part of the 30th Annual Especially for You Race Against Breast Cancer.

At this time it is unclear if the Light Mercy Pink event will be held, so please watch for more details as they become available in the weeks ahead.

The race collects the monies from the sale of the shirts and all of the monies raised stays in our community. This is used to help families in our area.

I was down to the office after one of my daughter oncologist appointment; they were doing backpack lunches for a school in this area.  Our family will be using these services. My daughter, Amy has to bring all her scans up to date since recently diagnosed with a rare cancer. Amy, and her daughter Caitlin, both have the Li-Framunie mutation. Through the funds raised by this event, Amy and Caitlin will both benefit through the help offered by this organization as it offers assistance with their bills for tests and treatments.

For all Hope members who sign up for Hopes Angels of Courage I will pick up your shirts and goodie bags and deliver to you.

-Nancy Lehman

Hope’s Angels of Courage