Area survivors raise funds to fight breast cancer
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure nets $1.4 million

By Cara Kelly

Three local breast cancer survivors recently made personal contributions to the largest grassroots network dedicated to curing the disease that threatens their lives and millions of other women.

By participating in the 12th annual Susan G. Komen Charlotte Race for the Cure, Kathie Billing, Linda Lopez and Deborah Kirksey helped raise the hopes of fellow cancer patients and survivors in addition to a monetary donation, that, when combined with other supporters, totaled $1.4 million.

The Boone residents joined 11,320 participants for the inspirational 5K race.

Billing, who conducts a walking program and Pilates class as part of the Pink Ribbon program at the Boone Wellness Center, encouraged several of her students to participate in the race as a part of the overall healing and recovery process.

“I started the walking program with the Pink Ribbon program and thought the race would be a good goal for the students to use as good motivator,” Billing said.

A breast cancer survivor herself, Billing began participating in the races as part of her own recovery program.
“The first time I ever ran this race was two weeks after my first chemotherapy treatment five years ago,” she said. “Having all the thousands of people and hundreds of survivors around me gave me the perserverance to move one foot in front of the other.”

Billing understands that the emotional encouragement passed from one breast cancer survivor to another is an essential part of the mental health aspect that is related to being a cancer patient.

“The energy that one gets by looking around and seeing all the survivors is up lifting,” she said.

After participating in the race, Kirksey and Lopez whole-heartedly agree with Billing about the benefits of the race.

“This is the first time I have participated in the race, and didn’t really know about it until Kathie mentioned it to me,” Kirksley said.

“I thought this would be a good opportunity to go and see what it is like. I was unprepared for the number of people who were at this race.”

In addition to being surrounded by supportive family and friends, Kirksey said the best part of the race was the balloon release at the end of the day.

“The balloon release at the end was just phenomenal. They give you a balloon for each year of survivorship, and I am only a four-year survivor, but there were women who had 45 and up balloons and it was just amazing to see that.”

In addition to improving mental health of the patients, Billing said the race helps family members cope with having a loved one diagnosed with a potentially terminal illness.

“It was good for my daughters to see and realize that other kids are experiencing their moms going through the same thing - balding, sick, confused, body changes,” Billing said. “And having the kids realize that having anger, sadness, fear, rebellious behavior and happy tears are all part of their healing, and it is OK to feel this way. The kids become comfortable with these feelings and thoughts by having understanding and loving adults around them to walk them through it.”

For Billing, Lopez and Kirksey, the walk was all of those important recovery steps.

To get involved with the Pink Ribbon program at the Wellness Center, contact Billing at (828) 262-0098. To learn more about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure nonprofit organization, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.KomenCharlotte.org” www.KomenCharlotte.org.