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Faces Behind the Race

In the run-up to this year's Southern Arizona Race for the Cure, we're profiling some of the faces behind it.

Bea Herron

A long-time volunteer for Susan G. Komen for the Cure Southern Arizona, Bea Herron has been named Honorary Team New Balance member for the upcoming Southern Arizona Race for the Cure.

Bea, who has been outfitted with new Balance Lace Up for the Cure shoes and apparel, joins other individuals at more than 125 locations around the country to help host Race for the Cure.

Bea was first diagnosed in December 1999. She had a mastectomy in February 2000 and there followed six months of chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

"I've never been tested for the BRCA gene but there is a huge occurrence of breast and ovarian cancer in my family," said Bea, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last July, and underwent chemotherapy for that.

Bea and her daughter took part in the Southern Arizona Race for the Cure in 2001, and found themselves handing out T-shirts because the event was short on volunteers. The following October, she began getting more involved with Susan G. Komen Southern Arizona as a volunteer, and is now Assistant Director of Race operations.

"By participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Bea and her team members across the country are an inspiration to us all," said Rob DeMartini, CEO of New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. "New Balance is proud of our 22-year association with Susan G. Komen for the Cure. As a company, New Balance is dedicated to promoting physical fitness and healthy lifestyles as a way to reduce the risk of breast cancer."

 

Anisette Noperi and Mareya Bullard

 

These two young Tucsonans will become the public face of Arizona's healthcare crisis this Sunday when they serve as our Honorary Race Chairs.

Anisette Noperi, 24 (above) and Mareya Bullard, 34 (pictured below) have both been fighting breast cancer and a complicated healthcare system. Mareya, a former cafe worker, was diagnosed March 2011 with Stage 3 cancer and began seven months of chemotherapy. Last December she had a double mastectomy and has just begun radiation treatment.

Mareya qualified for AHCCCS, Arizona's version of Medicaid, but her coverage ended in November. Attempts to re-apply for AHCCCS were unsuccessful . She is now part of the Pima Community Access Program, also known as PCAP, a not-for-profit organization providing the uninsured with access to professional health care at discounted prices. But using PCAP means "I have to pay really large co-pays," she says. Meanwhile, Mareya says her case is being taken up in Washington D.C. after her friend alerted Federal Governmnt officials to her plight.

Mareya was partly treated at St. Elizabeth's Health Center, which receives grant money from Susan G. Komen for the Cure Southern Arizona.

To help pay her medical bills, Mareya and her friends have been holding fundraisers.* With the support of the community and friends, she has raised $11,000.

Anisette works at Wells Fargo and was a student at the University of Arizona when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2011. Last March she had a double mastectomy, and went through chemotherapy.

Anisette lost her eligibility to AHCCCS because as well as studying she was working at the bank, a job that pushed her over the AHCCCS income limit. She reapplied to AHCCCS after changing her work schedule, only to find she didn't meet new requirements.

How did she get through? With the help of free treatment, also at St. Elizabeth's. Anisette, a mariachi band member, will hold her next fundraiser April 1st at Las Cazuelitas Event Center, 1365 West Grant Road from 2pm to 7pm. For more info call 622 0231.

* To make a donation to Mareya Bullard, visit a branch of Wells Fargo bank.

 

 

Visions Clinical Research

Ob/gyn Cynthia Goldberg had been running the Race for the Cure for several years as a participant - and then it became personal.

Cynthia (pictured) got breast cancer four years ago, yet still managed to run the Race during radiation treatment. That's when she decided to step up her involvement with Southern Arizona's largest participatory fundraising event.

This survivor is medical director of Visions Clinical Research which, along with Genesis Ob/Gyn, has been sponsoring the Race for the last four years. Visions carries out research trials for new medicines.

"All of our staff has been close to someone that is a survivor, and another of our employees was recently diagnosed. We are huge on supporting breast cancer research," says site director Brenda Pollock.

Soroptimist International Desert Tucson

The women behind Soroptimist International Desert Tucson had their own ideas of what Susan G. Komen was: in the words of member Sally Quick, "a big organization that raises money but the money doesn't stay here".

A visit from Komen SAZ's executive director Jaimie Leopold changed their minds. She told them them how 75 cents net of every dollar donated stays here in Southern Arizona to make life-saving grants for under-insured and under-insured women and men; the other 25 cents net goes to Komen National to fund breast cancer research. "She explained how much of the money is staying here and how much is coming back through U of A research grants," says Sally.

The 43-strong Soroptimist club was so impressed that for the first time they decided to form a team for the Race for the Cure, March 25.

The Soroptimists, part of an international non-profit group, has been trying to make the world a better place for women and girls since 1976. Over the years it has painted women's shelters, helped build houses, delivered Meals on Wheels, and printed cards with information for victims of domestic violence that can be hidden in a woman's shoe.

It is also gives out an annual award to single women to help them re-enter the workforce. For more information, including details of the club's annual fundraising dinner and silent auction on April 14th, go to www.sideserttucson.org

 

Signs Now

Now in its third year of sponsoring the Race for the Cure, Signs Now Tucson is stepping things up this year - with the offer of free corrugated plastic signs for all Race participants.

The 18"x24" signs are made of corrugated plastic and can be personalized with honoree names. The company will even be making them on Race Day, March 25, at the Field of Dreams site (see Race map).

Signs Now Tucson will also 's owner/president Edye Popke, who has several friends who are breast cancer survivors, says she loves being part of an event that is not only local, but on a grand scale.

"[I like] the idea that most of the money is staying local, and it seems like it has enough magnitude to make a noticeable impact to women in Southern Arizona. I like to be a part of that, where you can see the effects."

Signs can be ordered by calling 520-325-7446 or by stopping at the store at 3955 E. Speedway Blvd Monday through Friday between 8.30am and 5.30pm.

 

A sample of the free signs being offered by Signs Now Tucson

 

Ventana Medical Systems

Mara Aspinall 

Cancer is not only the business for employees at Oro Valley-based Ventana Medical Systems, it's their passion too.

When Ventana president Mara Aspinall (above) took over at the helm of the cancer diagnostics company, she brought with her years of involvement with Susan G. Komen for the Cure in Boston.

Now living in Tucson with her husband, Mara wants to be just as involved with the Komen Southern Arizona affiliate.

Ventana is a gold sponsor of our Race for the Cure on March 25, and Mara will be walking the 5K on Race Day. "I'm not an athlete, I won't be running it," she laughs.  Nevertheless, healthy eating and exercise are a way of life. On a stand in her office sit a variety of boxes of Oreo cookies, all of them from different parts of the world. She collects them but she doesn't eat them, preferring instead to snack on almonds.

Joining Mara on Race Day will be scores of Ventana employees who have formed a team for Race for the Cure. One of them is Angie Cahill, a survivor of a rare form of cancer in her breast known as leiomyosarcoma.

Angie (pictured) first found a lump in 2000 when she was just 25. A histologist, she knew enough about pathology to question her radiologist when he argued against her request to have it removed, and suggested she come back to see him in six to eight weeks. The mass grew from 1.5cm to 5cm in 30 days. She had the mass removed, and requested some extra radiology work. "I found out that this supposedly benign, non-threatening mass was actually a rare smooth muscle cancer," says Angie.

She also dealt with a second, benign, fibroadenoma that grew on the scar line. Eleven years later and now a marketing manager with Ventana, Angie is healthy and a wife and mother of two daughters. "Being in this industry saved my life," says Angie, who has taken part in the 5K in Columbus, Ohio, her former home. Now she sticks to the 1-mile, making it a family event.

"Whenever I would sign up and the Komen staff would ask if I was a survivor, I would ask them to decide since it was not technically breast cancer, but smooth muscle cancer in my breast. They would smile and toss a pink shirt my way," she says.

 

 

 

Last year's Race winner: law student Matthew Chandler.

 

Law student Matt Chandler spends his spare time seeking out races and half-marathons around the Tucson area. But he had never run the Race for the Cure.

When he finally did last year, he ended up winning it, with a time of 16 minutes and 12 seconds.

But there was more to the experience than just a good competitive run, says Matt.

"It was probably the most people I've ever seen," he says, referring to not only the participants but the hundreds of volunteers who make Race Day happen. He adds: "I've had friends whose friends have had breast cancer, so I knew it would be a good thing to do."

An athlete in high school, Matthew, 24, took some time off of running during his undergraduate degree. Now in law school at the University of Arizona, he has returned to it, joining Southern Arizona Roadrunners.

What advice does he give to novice runners of our 5K Race? "It's definitely a good distance to start with. You can start running two or three days a week, or walking and running." The thing about running is you make rapid progress, says Matt, and before long you'll be running three or four miles.

Next time: The faces behind the team at medical company Ventana.