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Saturday, October 19, 2002

Breast cancer organization celebrates two decades

By SUSAN PARROTT
Associated Press Writer

DALLAS (AP) - When Diana Rowden laces up her running shoes Saturday, she'll celebrate 17 years as a participant in a Komen Race for the Cure event promoting breast cancer awareness.

But a more important anniversary is scrawled boldly across her pink sports cap: 11 years.

Rowden has been a breast cancer survivor for more than a decade. She's reminded of that each year as she writes a new number on her racing cap.

Now cancer-free, Rowden said her participation in the charity races -- which benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation -- gave her hope and healing as she faced a deadly disease.

Rowden was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer six weeks before the Dallas race in 1991. The 38-year-old was devastated by the news, but not deterred from participating in the event she and co-workers at a software firm had made an annual tradition.

"For the first time I was a survivor," she said. "We got pink visors.

"It was very emotional," she said. "But I had a very good run that year. That was the day it really hit me that I was a breast cancer survivor."

Rowden credits her involvement with the Dallas-based Komen Foundation to early diagnosis of her cancer, which was successfully treated.

"I didn't put off having a mammogram after my doctor recommended it," she said. "Without my awareness of the disease, I might not have been as motivated to do something about it."

The Komen Foundation's greatest legacy has been increasing awareness and open discussion of a disease once seen as something hidden and even shameful, said Nancy Brinker. She founded the organization 20 years ago to fulfill a promise to her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died of breast cancer at age 36.

"Women used to suffer alone, but now doors have been opened so that those who face a breast cancer diagnosis have better screening and treatment options, and a better quality of life," Brinker said.

Brinker, who was appointed by President Bush as ambassador to Hungary, no longer has an active role in the foundation. But she says she is using her international status to promote breast cancer awareness in Hungary, where "people still don't discuss it out loud."

Brinker made good on her pledge to increase awareness, and the organization slowly grew from a $30,000 charity polo tournament in 1982 to more than $450 million raised for medical research grants and community outreach.

The first race was held in Dallas in 1983, drawing 800 participants. Saturday, about 30,000 are expected.

The organization has grown to 116 U.S. affiliates, along with international programs in Germany, Greece and Italy. Thousands of Race for the Cure events are held each year and draw about 1.4 million participants.

Former First Lady Betty Ford said the Komen Foundation has been "instrumental in changing the way people think about breast cancer by inspiring a nationwide movement and rallying millions to the cause."

In a July letter to The Dallas Morning News, Ford said that when she suffered breast cancer in 1974, it was rarely discussed in public and little was known about the disease.

"I have watched the Komen Foundation grow from a local group of women fighting this disease to a powerful grass-roots organization, with thousands of volunteers in more than 100 cities worldwide," she wrote.

Susan Braun, president and chief executive officer of the foundation, said grass-roots support continues to sustain the programs.

More than 75,000 volunteers assist with the races and other Komen activities.

"We are truly advocates for the patients and their families," Braun said. "Women with this disease do not have to suffer in silence."

And someday, Braun said, women may not suffer at all.

"We want to put an end to the disease. We want to totally eradicate it, but it could be in the form of a chronic disease that no longer kills."

Brinker said the foundation already has made a big difference.

"People are talking about it now," said Brinker. "We've been able to change the cultural perception, and that has saved lives."

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On the Net: www.komen.org

from the Reporter-News