HEALTH & FITNESS
walk for survival I on the cover
United By
Cancer
Jewish participants mobilize
for 3-Day breast cancer walk.
"I probably walk for all men and
women, but specifically so my
girls won't have to," says Cheryl
Darmon of Farmington Hills,
who has not had breast cancer,
flanked by her children Sanuni,
12, Mollie, 15, and Zach, 17.
uzanne Bartholomew, Ellyn
Davidson, Cheryl Darmon
and Lisa Siegmann will be
among the 1,800 walkers
for Jewish Education in Bloomfield
Township.
"Now, maybe the bottom half of me
will look as good as the top half," she
who are expected to participate in the
2010 Michigan Susan G. Komen 3-Day
adds, with her impish grin.
It was Siegmann's sister, a Toronto
for the Cure Aug. 13-15.
Two have had breast cancer and
three have the genetic mutation
family was susceptible to a genetic
mutation (BRCA1) that often leads to
that puts Jewish women of Eastern
European descent (Ashkenazi) at great-
breast and/or ovarian cancer when
she volunteered for a Canadian-based
resident, who first learned that their
er risk for breast and ovarian cancer
study of Jewish women of Eastern
than the general population.
Here is why they walk:
European descent.
Siegmann's test results were also
positive, indicating a 47 percent risk of
LISA SIEGMANN
ovarian cancer and an 85 percent risk
of breast cancer by age 70.
After consulting specialists, reading
Lisa Siegmann, 45, will walk 60 miles
over three days for the first time to cel-
ebrate completion of all the surgeries
everything she could get her hands on
and procedures she endured in choos-
ing to have her ovaries and breasts
and talking to everyone she knew, "I
made a decision to go along with both
removed — although she had no diag-
surgeries," she says.
After her mastectomies, the follow-up
pathology showed T showed three very
nosis of cancer.
"Once everything was done, I wanted
to do the 3-Day," says the Oak Park
wife and mother of three who is associ-
ate director at the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance
small areas of non-invasive cancer, fur-
ther confirming her pro-active course.
"It was 11/2 years — first procedures
UNITED BY CANCER on page 40
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2010
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