The Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure can be a hot, sweaty, grueling, ache-causing 60-mile walk. But it can also be an amazing journey, well worth the effort say members of a Stow-based team named Saving Our Boobs.
Team captain Jenifer Patton and teammates Gretchen Gies, Nancy Rutherford and Sue Kemmerline, all of Stow, and Barbara Tidman of North Canton, will head to Cleveland on Friday morning to set off on that long journey.
Each team member has raised more than $2,500 in donations that will help fund breast cancer research and community programs through the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
This is Patton’s second year participating in the three-day event, which she walks in honor of her mother-in-law, two aunts and a cousin — all of whom are breast cancer survivors.
“It’s grueling, you get blisters and achy. But as you’re walking you think about how a cancer patient doesn’t have a choice to go through chemo and radiation, but I do have a choice to keep walking. You tell yourself, ‘If they can keep fighting through all the side effects, I can endure this next five miles or whatever it is to keep going,” said Patton, a second-grade teacher in Solon.
Gies said she walks in honor of her mother, former Hudson resident Sue Godfrey, now of Powell, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January 2008.
“Knock on wood, she’s been cancer-free since she had a double mastectomy and went through chemo,” said Gies, a stay-at-home mom who is participating in the Cleveland 3-Day for the Cure event for the third time.
“That first year, I dealt with extreme heat and blisters. The second year I struggled through with knee issues. I’m not sure what this year will bring, but it’s nothing compared to what women go through dealing with breast cancer,” she said.
Gies joined the cause as an individual after seeing an event flyer posted in a store just after her mother’s diagnosis in 2008.
“I had no idea what I was getting into. But even going by myself I had a wonderful time. I met lots of people along the way and made a lot of friends,” she said. “I didn’t walk alone.”
Gies’ friend of eight years, Patton, joined her on the journey last year. This year, Patton attended an event “start-up meeting” in Hudson, where she met fellow Stow residents Rutherford and Kemmerline. They decided to form a team, which grew with the addition of Tidman, who is Rutherford’s co-worker at Summit Racing.
Both Patton and Gies say the well-organized event is a neat experience – despite having to walk about 20 miles daily for three days in hot weather and having to sleep in tents at make-shift campgrounds.
The walk begins Friday morning at the Port Authority in Cleveland, then winds its way through a loop that includes cities such as Lakewood, Westlake, Rocky River and Berea, where a closing ceremony will be held at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds on Sunday afternoon.
Patton said there’s a festival atmosphere to the event that makes it fun, with themed pit stops set up every two to three miles along the route offering snacks, beverages and portable toilets. Even homeowners along the route get into the action.
“As you’re walking, you see a lot of houses will be decorated, like one house last year that had pink bras strung between some trees,” Patton said. “If it’s really hot, people will have sprinklers going and some people will have mints or hard candy out for you.”
There are also designated “cheering stations” along the route where family and friends can go to support event participants.
Patton said her husband Greg and daughters, Caitlynn, 8, and Courtney, 5, will be cheering her on from the sidelines each day and at the closing ceremony.
“They’ll show up at the cheering stations wearing their 3-Day T-shirts, and they’re bringing squirt guns this year to help keep us cool,” Patton said.
Cheering for Gies will be her parents, her husband, Jeff, and daughters, Reiley, 8, and Kendall, 5.
“Every year I’ve done it they’ve all come out to support me. My daughters will be there with signs and banners they make and pink pom-poms to cheer me on,” she said.
Want to cheer on the Stow-based team through a donation? It’s not too late! Just visit the Saving Our Boobs team page and click on any of the members' names to reach a donation link.
Look for photos from the event on Stow Patch after this weekend.
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