Thousands of participants are walking from Pier 84 to Randall’s Island for the 12th annual Avon Walk for Breast Cancer today. NY1′s Bree Driscoll filed the following report.
Pink tutus, pink hats, pink leg Warmers, even full pink suits.
“Compared to the woman who are living and fighting breast cancer, what they go through, to wear this for 26 miles is a piece of cake,” says participant Greg Diamond.
“Big or small, save them all,” “Fight like a girl” and “bosom buddies.”
“I saw a man this morning that had a crazy pink Mohawk wig that was probably about this tall. The costumes and the slogans and the team names—just when I think I have heard them all, somebody comes up with something else and I just love it, the excitement, and it is so festive,” says Program Director Eloise Caggiano.
All this creativity and enthusiasm is part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. The two day walk started out early Saturday morning and covers nearly 40 miles.
It’s a trip Liz Delgado never thought she could make.
“It’s unbelievable because 10 years ago I didn’t think I would make it this far. I was diagnosed with stage 3,” Delgado says.
Melissa Canaday found out she had cancer when she was in the process of trying to donate her kidney to her daughter.
“I was always the caretaker. So suddenly I am the one who has to be taken care of, so that was kind of an interesting shift in dynamic for our whole entire family,” Canaday says.
This year’s walk raised a record-breaking $ 7 million. That money will be going towards research, support and raising awareness.
“The money that is raised here for the Avon Walk New York the majority of it will stay in this area, which is really nice for out participants who work so hard to raise the money— knowing that it is going to help people in their own communities,” Caggiano says.
With breast cancer affecting one in eight women, those funds will go a long way.
“It is something very simplethat we can do to basically save people,” says walker Afiya Ricks.
“I have friends who have beat it. I have friends who have not beat it. And that is why this is important to me,” another walker says.
For more information you can go to avonwalk.org.
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