Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure^®
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Central Park at 9:00 am

Save the Date: 23rd Annual Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure

 

Welcome, Survivors!

Survivors are the heart and soul of the Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure. Your presence at the Race is the physical embodiment of the successful work that Komen is doing to save lives and eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease. Each year the ranks of Survivors swell.

We hope you will sign up for the 2013 Race and share your stories and experiences among yourselves and with Race participants.

Komen Greater NYC is the major funder of many community-based breast education, screening, treatment and service program in the greater New York City metropolitan area. And the Race is where most of the monies for our grants program are raised.

The number of breast cancer survivors has been growing, and we want to add to their ranks. Help us do so by joining us at the 2013 Race. Registration opens March 1, 2013.

Survivors at the 2012 Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure

Men, women and children laced up their sneakers on Sunday, September 9, 2012 for the 22nd annual Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure.

Komen Greater NYC celebrated survivors on Race Day with a host of special activities, including:

• Survivor Village— Survivors and their families could partake of breakfast prior to the Race.After the Race, there were refreshments and post-Race survivor massage treatments.
• There were eigh contenders in the Survivor Race Fashion T-Shirt contest.
• The winner was three-month Survivor Fran Steggles Steward, who won a $250 Bank of America gift card.
• Second prize went to 12-year Survivor Linda Goldstein, who received a $150 Bank of America gift card
• Third prize was awarded to three-year Survivor Fredi Grieshaber, who received a $100 Bank of America gift card
• The Survivor Parade, which started outside Survivor Village and went to Bethesda Terrace, where the Survivor Photo was taken.

CBS 2 anchor and co-survivor Dana Tyler hosted the 2012 Survivor Program. Speakers included Komen for the Cure Greater NYC Director of Development and survivor Michelle Marquez, survivor and Komen Greater NYC grantee client Alantheia Peñ a, Komen for the Cure Global Ambassador Eric Brinker, and Race Survivor Chair Lisa Vernale Fusco.

The 2012 Survivor of the Year was Year was Andrea Koster-Crain, whose daughter was honored with the Co-Survivor of the Year Award. , last year’s honoree and this year’s Race Survivor Chair, presented the honor

Andrea Koster-Crain was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer at the age of 40. She went into remission after a year of treatment, which included surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

She lived for nine years without illness until, at age 50, she began to experience back pain and spasms so severe that she couldn't get out of bed. After numerous trips to health professionals, an alert breast doctor reviewed her earlier scans and discovered her breast tumor had been growing. The cancer had metastasized.

Tumors were in her spine, hips, pelvis and shoulders. Everyone assumed the worst. But they were wrong. The oncologist ran some tests on the breast tumors and determined Andrea was a good candidate for Herceptin – a breast cancer therapy designed to treat aggressive HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer. A cocktail of Herceptin, chemotherapy and pain management saved her life, and she began the road to recovery.

One Sunday, Andrea had a seizure in front of her daughter. Tests confirmed the unthinkable — the cancer had spread to her brain. She had to undergo gamma knife surgery and radiation therapy to her head. The radiation had terrible side effects. She couldn't eat and lost so much weight she was unrecognizable. Her extreme fatigue resulted in physical pain. Again, she fought hard and got back to something resembling normal life.

Within six months, Andrea was her old self and back at work. She enjoyed good health for almost a year. Then the chemotherapy stopped working. She began a new chemo regimen, but it did not interact well with the Herceptin so that drug was dropped from her treatment regimen.

This has been the pattern ever since her 2006 diagnosis, Andrea does well for a while and then the chemotherapy stops working. The cancer spreads somewhere new and more radiation is required.

Amanda says that her mother is an incredible example of how not to treat a serious cancer diagnosis as a death sentence. Andrea lives everyday life, doing all the things that make her feel normal. In her mind there is no other way to treat cancer.

National Sponsors of the Breast Cancer Survivor Recognition Program: