Komen run a chance to celebrate survival
The Seattle Times
June 16, 2006 Friday
Fourth Edition
Cancer survivor set for 8th race - About 15,000 people expected Saturday
Kayla Webley
Seattle Times staff reporter
On her 36th birthday in 1998, Kathy Kearney received something she hadn’t expected: breast cancer.
Now, eight years later, she will join about 15,000 participants both breast-cancer survivors and their supporters in Saturday’s 13th annual Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
But this won’t be Kearney’s first race.
She has been the first breast-cancer survivor to cross the finish line for the past seven years. If she wins again this year, it will bring her that much closer to her goal of winning 10 in a row.
“I have learned if I can overcome breast cancer, I can overcome almost anything,” Kearney said. More than 100 racing events associated with the Race for the Cure are held in communities nationwide, with about 1 million people expected to participate this year. Most of the money raised goes toward breast-health education, screening and treatment projects in the community.
Kearney’s first race was just two months after she ended treatment in 1999. She remembers many of the women in the race that year. As someone diagnosed just a year before, seeing people who had survived for 10 or 20 years gave her hope, she said.
“Seeing all those women, you realize this is not a death sentence,” she said. “This may not be what you would choose, but it is not the worst thing that could happen.”
Even while undergoing treatment, Kearney continued to work four days a week and run with her dogs, Rex and Riley, along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail near her home in Carnation. It was all part of her therapy, Kearney said.
“I just thought, if I can still do this then I’m going to be OK,” she said.
Being competitive, she wanted to run fast that first year, but the thought of winning never crossed her mind, she said.
But after she won, and kept winning for the next few years, each victory became a milestone.
“It’s a good way to celebrate my survival,” she said.
Kearney has formed a close bond with many of the women who gather each year to run or walk in the event. It has been especially meaningful for her to connect with other lifelong runners who have been struck by the disease but have remained in shape and athletic.
“It’s great to connect with all these other people who are healthy and not letting it slow them down in life,” she said.
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