Minutes after the last pink-clad participants crossed the finish line during Wilmington’s March 7 Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k, all of the nearly 100 breast cancer survivors who took part in the event were given a pink carnation. Each woman then presented the flower to one person, or co-survivor, who helped her through her breast cancer battle.
Survivor Susan Berry handed the carnation to her daughter, Mary Grace Glover, hugging her tightly. But, to show the depth of her gratitude, she also nominated Glover to receive the event’s co-survivor award for the immeasurable love and support her daughter provided after Berry’s diagnosis.
“I had recently split up with my husband and I got diagnosed with breast cancer,” Berry said. “She took care of me, she was the only one there for me. . . . If it wasn’t for her, I couldn’t have made it.”
Much of the third annual Wilmington Race for the Cure was a celebration of not just the survivors, but also the powerful support systems surrounding them. Runners wore bibs bearing the name of a family member or friend for whom they were racing.
Many of the 1,000 participants also formed fundraising teams to encourage donations prior to the race and to show a force united behind finding a cure for breast cancer.
The Belk Coastal Cure Warriors were rewarded for recruiting 44 members and raising $13,436, but 19 other teams also contributed to the $172,907 raised at the time of the event for breast cancer research, education and diagnostic resources.
Other smaller teams, like Tammy Tann’s Wilmington Warriors, rallied family and friends around a breast cancer survivor. Tann was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2014 at the age of 35.
“This is my sister, Lisa, and she’s been with me through everything, and my daughter, and nephew,” she said. “I’m a one-year survivor as of this February so I’m running for myself, as well as everybody else trying to get through it.”
To celebrate the occasion, Tann picked out bright pink tutus, fluffy headbands and costume jewelry for her team to wear.
While many of the teams were formed in honor of a survivor, one group consisted of survivors running in support of their breast cancer surgeon, Dr. Elizabeth Weinberg.
“Dr. Weinberg is a wonderful surgeon,” survivor Cindy Brooks said after crossing the finish line with her sister, nieces and pet dog. “She’s running, and she got all the breast cancer survivors that she operated on to come out and run.”
After the race, family, friends and supporters gathered to watch the survivors’ ceremony. While the lyrics of Sister Sledge’s “We Are Family” blasted over the loudspeakers, 1–4 year survivors were recognized, followed by 5–9 year survivors, and on, up to those who have survived for more than 30 years.
Tann said seeing women who received their diagnosis decades ago helped her believe she, too, has a chance to beat the disease.
“Granted, I’ve only gone one year,” she said, “but I’ve made it one, so I’m hoping to make it two, and then five, and then 10, and then hopefully survive through it.”
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