 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Eight women to work in D.C.'s Avon Walk
By JULIANNE WU, Times Staff Writer
ST. PETERSBURG -- Breast cancer survivor Sue Lang last year met a group of women from the St. Petersburg area at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Miami. Lang, 46, of Treasure Island was crewing -- that is, she was serving breakfast and beverages to the walkers as a volunteer. Amberlea Moody and Heather Greenway walked in the three-day, 60-mile event with several relatives and friends. Now, all three women are part of a 25-member group known as Viva Las Chicas, which even includes a few men. "Roughly translated, Viva Las Chicas means Long Live the Women," said Lang, who owns the Colourations Hair Studio in St. Petersburg. About eight women from the club, including Lang, Moody, Greenway and Ashley Fierros, are going to be a part of a crew at the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer on Saturday and April 27 in Washington, D.C. "We are trying to give women knowledge they need to make an informed decision about getting mammograms," said Moody, 29, who works at Jimmy B's in St. Pete Beach. "Even younger women should give themselves monthly breast exams," said Fierros, 23. "The youngest case we've heard of someone getting breast cancer was 16. You should know your own body as soon as your breasts start developing." According to the American Cancer Society's Web site, about 211,300 women will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2003. About 39,800 women will die from the disease. In Florida in 2001, according to the Pinellas Unit of the Cancer Society, about 11,844 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. That same year, about 2,609 died from the disease. Also, the society said that nearly 1-million women over the age of 40 living in Florida have never had a mammogram. For this coming weekend's Avon Walk in Washington, Lang and the others decided to crew as volunteers. Next year, they hope to walk in one of the events. "Last year in Miami, it meant so much to the walkers to see the crew," said Greenway, 30, who with Fierros works at Carrabba's on Tyrone Boulevard. "When you're walking, you appreciate the crew so much. And when you're in a crew, you appreciate the walkers," said Lang, who walked in the Avon event in May 2001 in Boston, five weeks after finishing six weeks of radiation. She had a lumpectomy and lymph nodes removed in December 2000. This year, the women crewing in the Avon Walk in Washington had to pay only the $55 registration fee and did not have to do fundraising. They will camp along the route as do the walkers. They did raise about $600, however, and will have the use of a donated RV to get them to Washington and back. They also got someone to donate gas money. Last year, Moody and Greenway, along with friends and relatives, were supposed to raise about $2,000 each to walk in the Avon Walk in Miami. They collectively raised more than $11,000. "This year, we only raised a few hundred dollars," Lang said. "But we are in the process of starting our own nonprofit corporation so we can raise money to help fight breast cancer all year long. We eventually hope to be able to sponsor some activities locally." Besides preparing for the Avon Walk -- which is independent of the American Cancer Society -- the women give out pink ribbons the 10th of each month and closely follow the schedule of Channel 10's anchor Sue Zelenko and the Lifetime Friends program the television station sponsors.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks | ||||||||||||||||||||||
