Notes of Love as Seen at the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure June 9th, 2007

On June 9th 2007, the Komen North Carolina Triangle organization held its annual Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure.

The event was held on the beautiful campus of Meredith College on Hillsborough Street, just west of the campus of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina.

My appearance at the Race for the Cure was out of curiosity as to how the event would go at Meredith College. I took the Raleigh Greenway trail that goes from the North Carolina Museum of Art to the Meredith campus, which keeps this event consistent with my writings about the greenway.

I walked with a nice lady who was rushing to get to her volunteer position for the eight thirty races. Gail told me a little about her work helping the clinics stay coordinated in their care programs.

With a sister and a wife who have both had multiple fights with cancer, finding meaningful solutions to this scourge is important to me.

One of the first things I noticed about the racers was the notes on people's backs. Many of them simply said Mom. Some notes were in celebration of someone. I took that to mean the person had survived the disease. Other notes were in memory of someone. It was pretty clear that person had not survived.

The number of people out this day was staggering. It was over twenty two thousand women, men and children that had come out to fight breast cancer.

Noting all the notes and the varied tee shirts people worn to the event, I was somewhat bewildered as to how to report what I had seen.

So instead of a single report, I will try to share parts of the whole in the hope my approach makes some sense.

The notes were an interesting part of the event. I have put together a slide show about he race that can be found at:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/506/notes_of_the_times_as_seen_at_the_susan.html

It is also the first link at the end of this piece.

The Susan B. Komen Fund was begun because, when Susan was going though her battle with breast cancer, many of the resources needed by patients and families did not exist. The fund provides much needed assistance to researchers, patients, and families during the search for a cure. Most of the funds are given in small grants with specific goals in mind. It is a different approach to managing the problem of seeking a cure while helping those who are in need now.

When Susan was going through her fight, it was a lonely time for women with Breast Cancer. There were no races for the cure. Although the big cancer organizations were raising funds for some types of research, many of the things patients needed to make it through the day were not available. If Susan's sister had run a race with a note on her back, there would have been few to see it. It was a lonely time that the Komen sisters began to change as they fought the problem together.

At this race, there were twenty-two thousand people who had a chance to see the notes. If you were not at the race, I took pictures of a few of the notes so that everyone could see them.

I couldn't get pictures of all of the notes for several reasons. One was there were so many important pictures to be taken. Another was that some of the notes were placed so that they were difficult to read. If I had a note on, I would have been one of those who put the letters on the inside of the note.

Some people placed the notes on their buns. I didn't think I wanted to take shots of these notes unless I could just get the note. Others had multiple notes, some of which unintentionally covered each other.

However the notes were placed, it was apparent from the faces of the runners that each and every one had put the note on as a symbol of their love, care and concern for their family and friends who were fighting or had fought this disease.

Every note at the race, with or without a picture, was a true sign of love.

My sister will be participating in a sixty mile three day race this fall in the Boston area. She is doing so in celebration of fighting off cancer five times in the last twenty five years. She is also doing so in support of her son's mother-in-law who in an active fight with the disease. I have included her Komen link as the third link here.