Last walk of the Year

The last Avon Walk of 2006 was held last weekend in Charlotte, NC.

Here is a story from the Charlotte Observer.


Posted on Sun, Oct. 22, 2006

AVON WALK FOR BREAST CANCER
Making strides to save lives
Charlotte event raises $1.6 million to help find new cures, improve care
KATY STAFFORD
kstafford@charlotteobserver.com

Jinx Vidrine came all the way from Louisiana to participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Charlotte this weekend. It's the fifth race she's walked in since she was diagnosed with breast cancer 15 years ago.

But the walk this year was different.

Vidrine lost her home in Hurricane Katrina last fall, and the 56-year-old is still living in a FEMA trailer in Louisiana. For her, the walk as a way to "refill her soul."

"Everyone needs to know that because of these walks, doctors are finding new cures," Vidrine said. "I am on a new drug that didn't even exist when I was diagnosed. I'm alive, and I represent hope."

About 800 people walked in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Charlotte this weekend, raising $1.6 million.

The Charlotte event is the last in a series of walks held across the country this year that has raised more than $41 million. The money will go to local and national breast cancer organizations to advance access to care and to find a cure, with a focus on the medically underserved.

The closing ceremony will be today at Memorial Stadium, where the Avon Foundation will award four grants to local organizations totaling $750,000: Carolinas Medical Center, Presbyterian Cancer Center, Palmetto Health Foundation in Columbia, and N.C. Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem.

Each walker raised a minimum of $1,800 in donations. Participants had the choice of walking 26.2 miles or 39.3 miles over Saturday and today.

The American Cancer Society estimates more than 200,000 women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2006, including 6,290 women in North Carolina and 3,170 in South Carolina. About 41,000 women will die from the disease in 2006.