The relief of walking

Alicia Robinson

For 1,300 men and women walking from Costa Mesa to Carson, this

weekend is all about togetherness.

Their walk will raise money for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer

Foundation.

The three-day, 60-mile walk began in the chilly morning hours

Friday at the Orange County Fairgrounds, where walkers listened to

inspirational words from walk organizers before setting off down

Newport Boulevard toward Huntington Beach.

“It’s been said that courage is only an accumulation of small

steps,” Patrice Tosi of the Komen Foundation told the walkers and

their supporters. “Well, let me tell you, over the next three days,

each of you will take over 126,000 courageous steps.”

The walk is about family togetherness for Nancy Priddy of San Luis

Obispo. The first time Priddy participated in the walk, it was in

support of her mother, a breast cancer survivor.

“Once I did it, I was hooked,” she said.

She had already planned to walk this year when she was diagnosed

with breast cancer. As part of her training, she walked to and from

her radiation treatments.

This year, her sister is walking with her, and her daughter is on

the crew. Sharing the experience of the walk has forged bonds between

Priddy and many of the people she’s met.

“People become very real,” she said. “It’s kind of like the

‘Velveteen Rabbit’ right here.”

In 2003, about 211,000 women and 15,000 men will be diagnosed with

breast cancer and 40,000 people will die from the disease, said Nancy

Mercurio, a walk participant and longtime supporter.

“As long as there is someone who calls themselves a survivor, we

are all survivors,” Mercurio said.

The walkers had raised $3.9 million for breast cancer research by

the time they took their first steps on Friday.

Most of the money will go to the Komen Foundation, the largest

private funder of breast cancer research on the nation. The National

Philanthropic Trust, which is managing the event, will direct 15% of

the proceeds to the trust’s Breast Cancer Fund.

Barbara Jo Kirschbaum of Upland has become an impressive

fund-raiser, raising $111,000 this year for breast cancer research.

She said she originally joined the walk because to someone older than

60 who had never been an athlete, “it sounded like a challenge.”

She walked in last weekend’s three-day event in San Francisco and

will be at the one in San Diego next weekend, and she was one of two

women in the country who participated in all 13 events held in 2002.

One of the best things about the event, Kirschbaum said, is what

people take away from it. They talk to other people, which helps

raise awareness about breast cancer.

“All of these people are out there touching other people’s lives,”

she said.

This weekend’s walk is the second of 13 such events that will be

held through November 2004.

Tosi, the Komen Foundation’s chief operating officer, said fair

weather was expected for this weekend’s walk. Thousands of volunteer

crew members provide walkers with water, meals, tents to sleep in and

other facilities during the event.

After camping Friday night at Huntington Beach’s Central Park, the

participants were expected to reach El Dorado Park in Long Beach by

tonight. Closing ceremonies are scheduled for Sunday evening at the

Home Depot Center in Carson.

A lot of preparation goes into the walk, which covers 20 miles

each day. Tosi said the Komen Foundation coaches walkers before the

event and makes sure they get enough food and drinks along the way.

“It really isn’t something you can just kind of get up and do,”

she said. “People understand that they’ve committed to a tough

journey.”

And the 60-mile walk puts people through their paces in other

ways.

“All walkers probably have been touched by breast cancer in some

way,” Tosi said. “Everyone has a really emotional experience.”

Susie Duernberger of Costa Mesa has been touched by breast cancer

personally. After she was diagnosed with the disease two and a half

years ago, she, her sisters and their friends wanted to do something

to help fight it.

She’s made friends on the walk, which she also participated in

last year, and the experience she shared with everyone is what she’ll

take away, she said.

“As a cancer survivor myself, I really don’t feel quite so alone,”

she said.

Even people who didn’t walk in this weekend’s event can help fight

breast cancer, Tosi said. Donations for breast cancer research can be

made online at https://www.the3-day.org.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She can be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

[email protected].