Susan G. Komen 3-Day - Michigan

We take traveling 60 miles in a car for granted.  We can do this in an hour.

But what if you and a group of your closest 1,300 friends decided to walk 60 miles?  This would mean you’re part of some kind of focused, passionate movement.

That’s exactly what took place over this past weekend when the Susan G. Komen 3-Day organization rolled into the Motor City.

The 3-day, 60-mile walk brought together mothers, sisters, husbands, brothers and just people who care about the fight against breast cancer.  We spent the three days with very inspirational, disciplined and dedicated-to-the-cause walkers.

For those of you who have never walked 5-10 miles on hard pavement on one consecutive outing, keep this in mind – these everyday people would do this three days in a row, twenty miles each day and sleeping in tents at the home base location of Suburban Showplace in Novi.  The final day of walking would conclude in Dearborn at Ford World Headquarters on the west lawn.

The route for the walkers took them into various neighborhoods around the metro Detroit area where cheering sections were set up by the local communities.

Breast cancer affects a vast amount of our female population. The statistics are staggering:

In 2013, it is estimated that, among U.S. women, there will be:

1. 232,340 new cases of invasive breast cancer (This includes new cases of primary breast cancer among survivors, but not recurrence of original breast cancer among survivors.)
2. 64,640 new cases of in situ breast cancer
3. 39,620 breast cancer deaths  

The global breast cancer movement launched by Nancy B. Komen, in honor of her dying sister, Susan G. Komen in 1982, brings together the general public in the millions to fight the war on breast cancer. 

It’s almost frightening to think that if the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization and the funded or partnered programs in more than 50 countries as part of their nearly $1.5 billion for breast cancer research, education and community programs did not exist, just where would we be?

While the walk generates funds, as spokeswoman Dr. Sheri Phillips explained, it does much more.  It allows people from all walks of life to create new and lasting friendships through the time spent with each other.  Each step taken by so many is a step of reflection of a loved one lost.        

What ever the reason, it’s clear that at the end of the three days when these tired people with blistered feet are holding their shoes in the air in support of survivors, the feeling is magic.