The
Story of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation
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The story of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer
Foundation is both sad and inspiring. The foundation was
founded about the same time I lost my closest cousin to
breast cancer and supporting the foundation is a privilege I
treasure. It has been making a difference in the world of
breast cancer for just over twenty years. The foundation
supports research and clinical trials. The foundation is
also instrumental in providing for local outreach programs
in many communities. It has a network that started in the
United States but now reaches around the world. They are
fighting to erase breast cancer as a life-threatening
disease and killer of women. They support research,
education, screening, and treatment projects around the
world.
Susan’s story begins in Peoria Illinois where
she and her sister Nancy grew up. |
Both married and Nancy moved to Texas,
married, and had a son. Susan graduated from college, went
back to Peoria, and married her college sweetheart. Her life seemed perfect until she was diagnosed
with breast cancer. Things were much different twenty years
ago. Breast cancer was not fully understood, and family doctors
were usually not equipped to treat a woman with breast cancer.
I look back and know that if my cousin had just recently been
diagnosed with breast cancer, her recovery might have been
possible. The same was true of Susan G. Komen.
She had a resolve to beat cancer, and in the process to
make it a little easier for other women who were battling the
disease. She wanted women to have the education they needed to make
difficult decisions about their treatment. She hated the way some
waiting rooms looked and wanted to make them cheerier for the women
who waited in them.
Her sister Nancy made a promise that she would do
everything she could to help other women who would go through the same
agonizing times she had gone through. Her sister, Nancy Brinkman,
founded the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 1982 in memory of Susan.
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One of the major fundraises for the Komen
foundation is the Race for the Cure. Pledges are made to
anyone who wants to walk or run in this special event. Many
people, who enter, do so in memory of a loved one that died
of the disease, or in support of a loved one who is battling
the disease. It is a wonderful sight to see so many
wonderful people willing to do their share to make a
difference in breast cancer. You can find the Komen
affiliate in your area by going to the web site;
www.komen.org. Be one of those who walk or run to make
a difference for someone with breast cancer. The funds that
come from this event may make it possible for someone you
love, or someone you know to have a free screening. It
could save their life.
Can one person make a difference? Nancy
Brinkman thought so. That is how the Susan G. Komen
Foundation was started. Nancy was one woman with a vision
for breast cancer patients around the world.
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