Making strides against breast cancer

As this October marks the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, 1 in 9’s Hewlett House, which offers free breast cancer and other cancer support groups and classes, hosted its Think Green, Think Pink 5K Walk at Eisenhower Park on Oct. 4. At $25 a head, the charity walk raised close to $25,000 for Hewlett House’s outreach programs.

“This particular walk is really about increasing awareness that we still have a terrible problem when it comes to breast cancer,” said Geri Barish, executive director of 1 in 9’s Hewlett House. “We want to make sure that people know we still have a horrible problem here in Long Island.”

Despite the fact that more women are surviving breast cancer, remaining disease-free, and living longer and healthier lives due to early detection and treatment advances, Barish said she thinks problems like this are no longer on top of most people's priority list.

“This problem has not gone away,” she said. “We’ve been put on the back burner for the last few years and I think we really need to get back out there. Our voices really need to be heard again and we hope that doing this in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month will help to do that.”

Barish said she thinks people should be aware that currently there is a flourishing community of 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States. “They’re out there and we need to help,” she said. “We really need to go out and make sure that every person is taken care of through people walking hand in hand and feeling like they can really make a difference.”