The Michigan Daily - Monday, June 3, 2002 - 3
WALKING FOR A CURE
A residents, students join three-day
walk, raise money or cancer researcui
By Shoshana Hurand
Daily Staff Reporter
Though Livonia resident Georgia
Monroe's personal battle with breast
cancer kept her from joining the
thousands of participants in this
weekend's AVON Three-Day Walk, it
did not stop her from taking part in
the event, which crossed 60 miles of
southeast Michigan.
"I wanted to walk," Monroe said.
Instead, she and her sister, Hope,
decided to work on crew, transport-
ing participants' tents and baggage
from one campsite to the next on the
trek from Ann Arbor to Farmington
Hills.
"It's a way to take action instead
of hiding" (from recognizing that the
disease exists and affects so many
people), Hope Monroe said.
"One thing that's important is rais-
ing awareness," said Jennifer Acord,
public affairs manager for AVON.
The participants did just that. As
5,000 women and men walked
through neighborhoods and streets,
their purpose was to catch the atten-
tion of passersby, raising breast can-
cer awareness and funding for
medical research and support.
Walkers were required to raise at
least $1,900 to participate, with the
average walker raising around
$3,200, Acord said.
On this first Michigan walk, they
raised $. millinn.
"Hopefully it raises awareness. Hopefully
we can beat this thing."
- Mike Vaughn
AVON Three-Day Walk participant
Every state receives a portion of
money collected from the walks,
including a $500,000 grant to the
Barbara Ann Karmonos Cancer
-Institute in Detroit.
But the event was about more than
just the money. For many of the
walkers, the cause struck home,
whether they have been affected,
know someone who has been or just
believe in the cause.
Ten percent of the walkers were
cancer survivors, while others
walked in remembrance of loved
ones taken by the disease. According
to the American Cancer Society, one
in nine women in the United States
will develop breast cancer during
their lifetime.
Joyce Walker, a University Hous-
ing Information Technology Office
employee, said she decided to walk
in honor of her aunt, Ida Smith, who
died of breast cancer in 1996.
"This was a major challenge for
me," Walker said, commenting on
her nervousness before embarking
on the long journey. She and HITO
employee Sara Staebler chose to do
the walk together for mutual sun-
port.
"I had a scare," Staebler said,
referring to her own bout with breast
cancer. Although the tests came back
negative, Staebler remembers "what
it was like to wait" and wonder
about the results.
University alum Davong Shah
lost his mother to breast cancer as a
result of late detection - the ACS
estimates 1 million women in the
U.S. today are living with undetected
breast cancer - and said he viewed
the walk as an opportunity to speak
to survivors about their experiences.
"There are still things I wonder
about that [my mother] went
through," he said. Shah said he
hoped to gain a better understanding
of the disease.
"It's something that will be very
valuable," he added.
Shah was joined by another Uni-
versity graduate, Mike Vaughn of
Royal Oak. Vaughn said he walked
to alert people of a disease that
affected many of his family and
friends.
"Hopefully it raises awareness.
Hopefully we can beat this thing,"
Vaughn said.
Besides using the event to bring
attention to the disease, some partic-
SHC
Three-Day AVON Walk for breast cancer awareness starts its 60-mile
from Ann Arbor to Farmington Hills.
ipants joined the hike as part of a
personal challenge.
Nursing junior Kathryn Sisterman
asked her mother, Linda, to do the
three-day walk with her.
"I say, 'I wish she would have
asked me to go to the mall or go out
to lunch. Instead, she asked me to do
the walk,"' Linda Sisterman said.
But Kathryn Sisterman said she
thought this was a much more bene-
ficial bonding experience.
"I'm glad we're putting it into
this," she said. "It's a weekend and
your money is going to a good
cause."
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