The Long Walk for Awareness
A Mother's Day marathon. Supporters in the fight against breast cancer started early yesterday morning, in what turned out to be a day of festivities and awareness.
Shortly after my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, she stood along the edge of our back porch and combed her hair in the afternoon sun. Reddish-brown strands from a woman who'd married, taught most of her life and raised two boys, now in their 20s, fell into her hands. “I loved my hair,” said my mother Eileen Klinkert. “It was one of the things I really loved about myself.” It was a sacrifice she had to make, however, so she let each strand go. Eventually, her thick head of hair disappeared completely from chemotherapy, drugs used to reduce her cancer so she could have her breast removed then treated with radiation. “As time went on,” she said, “I'd look up into the trees [in our backyard], and I could see my hair mixed into…
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Krista
6:49 pm on Monday, May 9, 2011
I walked again this year with my Mom, and my husband joined us for the first time. I walked in memory of my family members who lost their battle, and walked along side a survivor. It is now a tradition we will continue. The Beverly Morgan Park neighbors are so supportive and really get involved in this event. more ›