Four thousand women and men began a 60-mile pilgrimage yesterday to kick off this year's annual San Diego Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.
Bystanders cheered as swarms of walkers, some clad in outfits featuring pink feather boas and rhinestone bras, made their way from the Del Mar Fairgrounds to Kellogg Park in La Jolla, where they stopped for lunch. Team names – such as the Heart and Sole Sisters and The Hakuna Ma-Ta-Tas – were spotted on shirts and signs.
“Good job, ladies!” shouted Joni Birse of Ramona as a group in pink tutus, tiaras and hula skirts strutted down the boardwalk, ready to eat after 11 miles of hoofing.
San Diego native Maria Sevier, who now lives Tacoma, Wash., said the experience has been inspiring.
“It's phenomenal,” Sevier said as she stretched on the grass. “I walk because I have a cousin who has been battling breast cancer for seven years.” Nearby, Elizabeth Ferry, 18, and Kathy Garat, 43, both from El Cajon, fueled up on chicken sandwiches and apples.
“We've got another nine miles to go today,” Garat said. “We're feeling good. No blisters yet.”
Maury O'Connor, 20, and Megan Fennell, 21, flew in from New Jersey to support a family friend with breast cancer. Catherine Wagner and Dotte Collins, both from Dallas, wanted a change of scenery.
“This our third 3-Day,” said Wagner, 27. “We did the first two in Texas. This route is so much prettier than the one from Fort Worth to Dallas.”
Jessi Grant, 65, journeyed from South Dakota to cheer on her daughter, a cancer survivor.
“Both my daughters had breast cancer,” Grant said. “One died at 29. It's hard to face losing the only other one I have.”
Of all 14 walks around the country, San Diego's is the biggest in terms of participation and money raised, officials said. Each walker commits to raising at least $2,200. Proceeds support breast cancer research, education, outreach and treatment.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Finding Ways to Help Children With Cancer
On doing acupuncture on small children: We use much smaller needles. Oftentimes with kids it’s easier to deal with the kid when they’re doing what they want to do. It’s like, “Keep playing with the toy; we’ll do what we’ve got to do.”
How it can help: We use it a lot for nausea and vomiting if they’re having chemotherapy, for fatigue, to increase appetite, and for headaches, stress, dry mouth, pain from radiation. I sit in on rounds with the medical team. We’re constantly conversing about who we should go see.
What children pick first from the program’s free offerings: Aromatherapy. It works for anxiety. During a bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant, the preservative used to treat the stem cells has a strong odor, and we use aromatherapy to help calm children and their families. We have a million and one different essential oil bottles here. Choosing is quite an empowering thing to them. They love it.
Big things in small office: Two computers, five chairs, a massage table, sink, Pilates machine, upended treadmill with a medicine ball on it, heat lamp, yoga mats.
Jumping-off point: I worked at the Showtime network, at its in-house advertising department. It was as uncorporate as a corporate job could get. Then 9/11 happened, and I did a re-evaluation of how I wanted to spend time. I did research on careers that would address all my passions. I wanted to work with my hands, work one-on-one with people, do Chinese medicine, and acupuncture. I called people in the Yellow Pages and asked, “Do you like your job?” I talked to naturopaths, acupuncturists and nutritionists.
Coolest semester off: Being a chef in an organic vineyard in Provence.
On getting sick youngsters to eat better: I teach them about plant-based protein, like tempeh and tofu. We go on a supermarket scavenger hunt, going to different places in the supermarket than they’re used to going. Broccoli and brussels sprouts — they love them. We roast them, which makes everything sweeter.
In free time with new husband: We cook a lot. He bakes bread, and I cook. We really cook all our meals at home, and bring lunch. People ask: “How do you do that? You should start a blog.”
Worst days: Some days are really hard if patients I’ve become close to have a relapse, or they’ve found progression of the disease. That’s always hard. But we can always offer families our services wherever they are in cancer treatment or survivorship. What we can do is help them feel better right then. If parents feel better, they’ll be there for their kids more, and if kids feel better, they can fight with more gusto.
Best perk: You see it every day, you see the grace, you see the hope, you see the love that permeates everything this department does. We’re dealing with a lot: kids that are dying, kids that are around kids who are dying. Of course, there’s a perspective to be kept, but I learn that just about anything is possible.
How it can help: We use it a lot for nausea and vomiting if they’re having chemotherapy, for fatigue, to increase appetite, and for headaches, stress, dry mouth, pain from radiation. I sit in on rounds with the medical team. We’re constantly conversing about who we should go see.
What children pick first from the program’s free offerings: Aromatherapy. It works for anxiety. During a bone marrow transplant or stem cell transplant, the preservative used to treat the stem cells has a strong odor, and we use aromatherapy to help calm children and their families. We have a million and one different essential oil bottles here. Choosing is quite an empowering thing to them. They love it.
Big things in small office: Two computers, five chairs, a massage table, sink, Pilates machine, upended treadmill with a medicine ball on it, heat lamp, yoga mats.
Jumping-off point: I worked at the Showtime network, at its in-house advertising department. It was as uncorporate as a corporate job could get. Then 9/11 happened, and I did a re-evaluation of how I wanted to spend time. I did research on careers that would address all my passions. I wanted to work with my hands, work one-on-one with people, do Chinese medicine, and acupuncture. I called people in the Yellow Pages and asked, “Do you like your job?” I talked to naturopaths, acupuncturists and nutritionists.
Coolest semester off: Being a chef in an organic vineyard in Provence.
On getting sick youngsters to eat better: I teach them about plant-based protein, like tempeh and tofu. We go on a supermarket scavenger hunt, going to different places in the supermarket than they’re used to going. Broccoli and brussels sprouts — they love them. We roast them, which makes everything sweeter.
In free time with new husband: We cook a lot. He bakes bread, and I cook. We really cook all our meals at home, and bring lunch. People ask: “How do you do that? You should start a blog.”
Worst days: Some days are really hard if patients I’ve become close to have a relapse, or they’ve found progression of the disease. That’s always hard. But we can always offer families our services wherever they are in cancer treatment or survivorship. What we can do is help them feel better right then. If parents feel better, they’ll be there for their kids more, and if kids feel better, they can fight with more gusto.
Best perk: You see it every day, you see the grace, you see the hope, you see the love that permeates everything this department does. We’re dealing with a lot: kids that are dying, kids that are around kids who are dying. Of course, there’s a perspective to be kept, but I learn that just about anything is possible.
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