Susan G Komen San Antonio insert for San Antonio Woman

18TH ANNUAL SUSAN G. KOMEN SAN ANTONIO RACE FOR THE CURE速

SATURDAY, APRIL 11, 2015 ALAMODOME

Our promise is to save lives and end breast cancer.

OUR PROMISE The promise of Susan G. Komen® is to save lives and end breast cancer by: • Empowering people • Ensuring quality care for all • Energizing science to find the cures Komen has played a critical role in every major advance in the mission to end breast cancer, transforming how the world talks about and treats this disease. Millions of breast cancer patients are now breast cancer survivors!

Susan G. Komen is the world’s largest breast cancer organization, funding more breast cancer research than any other nonprofit while providing real-time help to those facing the disease.

Since its founding in 1982, Komen has funded approximately $800 million in research and provided more than $1.7 billion to screening, education, treatment and psychosocial support programs serving millions of people in more than 30 countries worldwide. Komen was founded by Nancy G. Brinker, who promised her sister, Susan G. Komen, that she would end the disease that claimed Suzy’s life.

Established in 1997, Susan G. Komen San Antonio has invested more than $16.5 million in our city.

2014 LOCAL FUNDING BREAKDOWN EDUCATION RESEARCH

12% 26% 32%

TREATMENT/ SURVIVORSHIP

SCREENING/DIAGNOSTIC

30%

1 IN 8 WOMEN will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

The disease is the second most common cause of cancer deaths.

Except for skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women.

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LOCAL DOLLARS HELPING LOCALLY Last year, Susan G. Komen San Antonio awarded $750,000 to nine area nonprofits providing life-saving breast cancer services to local families who need our help the most.

Additionally, we invested $270,000 for breast cancer research taking place in our city.

Through community support, Komen San Antonio is helping women in our neighborhoods suffering from breast cancer today, while fueling research to find the cures for tomorrow.

Funds awarded were raised primarily through the 2014 Susan G. Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure.

With your help, last year’s grants specifically addressed: Breast cancer screening including clinical breast exams, mammograms and biopsies.

Treatment such as surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

Support and survivorship including counseling services, lymphatic drainage, wigs, bras, prosthetics, transportation, diet and nutrition classes.

Neighborhood breast cancer education and outreach programs.

The funded breast cancer programs provided in Bexar County were selected by an independent grants review panel through a competitive application process.

2014-2015 Komen San Antonio Grantees: American Cancer Society: Transportation to treatment appointments CentroMed: Education, screening, diagnostics and case management services CommuniCare Health Centers: Screening and diagnostics Martinez Street Women’s Center: Educational outreach and support services SLEW Wellness Center: Emotional and physical support for survivors recovering from treatment including lymphatic drainage, counseling, wigs and more ThriveWell Cancer Foundation: Nutrition and exercise sessions specifically for cancer patients and survivors University Health System: Screening and diagnostics WINGS: Treatment support and patient assistance YWCA: Educational outreach and support services

PINK EMPOWERMENT PACKS FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED PATIENTS Dealing with a cancer diagnosis is overwhelming.

Many times patients have to make quick decisions about treatment plans, financing, work and personal arrangements.

Empowerment Packs provide resources on treatment options, support groups, important questions to ask doctors, cancer journals and much more.

“It’s invaluable. Breast cancer is so overwhelming and it gave me clarity about what I needed to know and what questions to ask my doctor.

I still refer to the package today.” Irene H., Survivor

“My Empowerment Pack couldn’t have come at a better time. The thought of knowing someone else is thinking about me as I go through my radiation treatment is encouraging.”

Deborah C., Survivor

To request an Empowerment Pack for a breast cancer survivor or patient, please email info@sakomen.net or call 210-222-9009.

Are you interested in sponsoring the Pink Empowerment Pack program, or providing cards of encouragement? If so, please email bre@sakomen.net or call 210-222-9009.

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BREAST CANCER AMBASSADORS The Komen Breast Cancer Ambassadors (BCA) are a group of trained volunteers who participate in speaking engagements throughout the community. Ambassadors include survivors, co-survivors, advocates and anyone with a passion to serve!

Our Purpose To educate about Komen’s promise to save lives, discuss vital breast cancer information and share powerful testimonies on why breast cancer awareness matters.

"As a survivor and chairwoman of the Breast Cancer Ambassadors, I was saddened to find so many people who lacked information about our local resources. Through the BCAs, we are able to create a passionate group that has a desire to speak openly about their cancer journeys. Komen’s hope is to educate San Antonio in our efforts to encourage early detection."

Lucie Arteaga

Why Should You Get Involved?

You have the opportunity to make a real impact in the lives of others by educating people about breast cancer through presentations, distributing educational materials and sharing your personal story.

Are you interested in joining the Breast Cancer Ambassadors program?

If so, please email bre@sakomen.net or call 210-222-9009.

COMMUNITY PROFILE The Community Profile allows Komen San Antonio to better understand local breast cancer issues and remain responsive to the needs in Bexar County. The project reviews the following: • Local breast cancer trends, including incidence, mortality, screening and stage of diagnosis • Strengths and weaknesses in the local health care system • Analysis of breast cancer public policy • Community feedback through focus groups and health care professionals

Priority Areas Two priority areas were identified based on demographic and socioeconomic information that may put certain areas within Bexar County at higher risk for late-stage breast cancer diagnosis and early death.

Zip codes with higher percentages of Black and Hispanic/Latina women with lower education, employment and poverty levels, as well as higher medically underserved numbers, were chosen. These socioeconomic factors make it difficult for residents to access cancer care and prevention.

Information gathered allows the Affiliate to effectively reach the Bexar County population through responsive grants, community outreach and public policy efforts. The full Community Profile Report will be available June 2015.

For questions or information about the Community Profile, please visit www.komensanantonio.org or call (210) 222-9009.

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Be Bald and Be Free!

by Dezare Cedillo

When I first got diagnosed with breast cancer at the ripe age of 28, one of the things they told me was that I would lose my hair. I remained hopeful that I would be one of the 5 percent that didn’t. Well, I wasn’t!

Everyone said, “Shave your head before your hair starts falling out,” but I felt I was going through this for a reason beyond myself.

So I decided to see what it’s like to lose the most precious possessions that society says makes us women beautiful. I wanted to use this opportunity to let inner beauty shine out and not follow the mold of how the world says you have to look.

Well, I’m glad I did.

Because throughout this journey of losing my hair, my eyelashes (which I loved so much, by the way), one of my breasts, which I now call my moob = missing+boob, I have learned how to feel beautiful in every season of my life–whether I have hair or no hair!

I have embraced the phrase “NO HAIR, DON’T CARE” and made that my motto at how I look going through hard times. It isn’t just about your hair, it is a boldly positive outlook at any situation you go through. Whether you’ve been through cancer or not. Nothing that we go through in life defines who “you” are! You are not the mistakes you’ve made nor the cancer that may be inside you. All of us are fighters!

Fighters at life! And survivors of life!

If you’re reading this now, you are a SURVIVOR!

Life can be tough, but it’s how you perceive situations that will make living worth it. I may be

battling cancer, but I don’t feel like it. I choose to believe that God created me for a purpose and it’s through his son, Jesus Christ, that I have come this far in my breast cancer battle journey.

He has given me the supernatural strength, courage, love, support and hope! Through the Holy Spirit my perspective was changed to see the blessings and positivity in life. That’s what gets me through each and every day with great joy! I am grateful for today and pray for tomorrow. Thank you, Jesus!

So go out there and be the beautiful YOU that you were created to be!

Forget what the girls on the magazines look like. Those girls don’t even look like “those girls” in the magazine.

Forget about what society or social media says is beautiful….you go out there and be the best version of yourself in this season! Your time to shine is now! So be bald and be free!

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Learning to Speak Cancer

by Eileen Lundin

I am fortunate to have learned several languages throughout my life: Southern, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Cancer.

Whenever we can, my husband, Robert, and I travel, research travel, plan travel and pack suitcases for travel. We just love that brisk feeling of jet lag. We love the fascinating people we meet and the wonderful places we’re privileged to visit.

I was found to have breast cancer in 1996: a routine mammogram, an impossible diagnosis and then the whirlwind of treatment. I learned about Komen San Antonio through my “chemo-buddy,” Gen, and I started working on the volunteer committee before my hair had grown out to a respectable length.

I joined the board in 2001, and was elected president in 2003. During that time, Komen was housed at University Health System, Robert B. Green Campus (where I started my nursing career), and we had no paid staff. Finally we acquired an administrative person and a volunteer coordinator. When those two ladies went on to more lucrative jobs, I was the entire Komen staff for a summer. My first Race was Komen’s second in San Antonio, so I have been there practically from the beginning. From bald to blonde to grey.

Through my many roles as a volunteer board member, board president, and involvement in Race for the Cure, community grants and the Community Profile, I’ve learned the most important function of

Komen has been, and continues to be, education and awareness. I am regularly amazed by how misunderstood breast cancer is, even today, as I work at the Cancer Therapy and Research Center. I want women to take control of their health. I want them to be intelligent consumers of health care services.

And I want them to know what questions to ask. I wrote three guidebooks and participated in the production of a few more; I translated the language of breast cancer into Spanish; I helped run a support group for Latinas for several years — all in the name of education. For a woman who was a total disaster at teaching middle school Spanish in Biloxi, Mississippi, I think I’ve come a long way!

What does Komen mean? It means, I think, that there is help and hope for women who have breast cancer or who fear it. We show up with our bright, shiny smiles and our pink shirts and we hug.

We find resources for those without, we hold hands as they navigate the path of treatments, and we inspire the terrified to embrace the process of cure.

We raise the funds to help women and to underwrite the cure. It is my most fervent hope that someday, someday soon, we will hold a Race to Celebrate the Cure and that no woman need ever fear breast cancer again.

Now, It’s Personal

by Debra Medellin-Beyer

I've always run for fitness, but more for my mental well-being. My first involvement with Susan G. Komen was the 1999 San Antonio Race for the Cure. I had never seen so much pink! There were participants with homemade signs on their backs running in honor or memory of those women in their lives who had survived, were currently in treatment, or had lost their battle with breast cancer.

To say I was overwhelmed is an understatement! After completing the race I decided that next year I would do more than just run, so I volunteered and helped register people.

Since then, each year I have become more involved, and now I take a week of vacation from my full-time job, and I organize registration and packet pick-up for the entire race. I’ve served on the Komen San Antonio Board of Directors and co-chaired the race two years in a row.

People have often asked me why I volunteer, and I tell them that EVERYONE will be affected by this disease. They will either have a mother, sister or friend who will be diagnosed, and even ONE is too many. In all the years I have volunteered, served on the board or been in charge of the race, I have received far more than I have given.

I've met some amazing women and have been truly blessed that our paths crossed. Throughout the years I've been a volunteer, not a week goes by when I don’t meet someone who has been recently diagnosed, is going through treatment, or has lost someone to this disease. If that isn't a validation of why I am involved with Komen or why we all need to do more, I don't know what is!

My husband, Robert, has become involved as well and helps every year with race operations and puts up hundreds of pink lights for my registration tent. He always wears pink at any Komen event.

Being in a male-dominated field as a paramedic with the San Antonio Fire Department, he has met and helped many of his fellow brothers and sisters just by listening. And he refers them to Komen for resources for their own loved ones who have been newly diagnosed with breast cancer.

Since the beginning, I've never had any connection to breast cancer. I've always just been passionate about the cause. In September of 2014, it became personal.

My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer. The doctors called it “invasive ductal carcinoma.” I call it a monster. Because of the extent of this monster, my mother will succumb and lose her battle to breast cancer. As we care for my mother realizing this, not a day goes by that I don't wonder if she's in pain or if there is any more we can do to keep her comfortable.

What I do know is that as long as I'm able, I will do whatever I can to educate people about early detection and prevention and to help find a cure!

If you've never been to the Race for the Cure, I ask that you come see what it's all about. Celebrate with San Antonio the many women, and some men, who have fought this battle and won, those who are fighting now and honor those who have lost their lives. If you do, come by the registration tent and say “hello.” It’ll be the one lit up with hundreds of pink lights to honor my mother.

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Register Today!

Join us on Saturday, April 11, 2015, at the Alamodome for the 18th Annual Susan G. Komen San Antonio Race for the CureÂŽ

Be part of Komen’s promise to save lives and end breast cancer by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures!

Visit www.komensanantonio.org to sign up online today.

Thank you to our local title sponsor:

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