Cancer crusaders walking 50 miles
By Amanda Gapinski
Two IVCC staff members will be among the 2,000 people expected to participate in a 50-mile walk to raise money for breast cancer awareness.
Bonnie Grusk, chair of health professions, and Lori Nall, chair of social science, have signed up to participate in the Avon Breast Cancer Walk and pledged to raise $1,700. They will start near the Wisconsin border on June 18 and end up in Chicago June 20.
Nall said it started when she saw a full-page ad for the walk in a January issue of the Chicago Tribune.
"I saw this (ad), and I thought, what a neat thing for women to do," Nall said. "Maybe I ought to do something.
"It just seems that an awful lot of things in your life are routine," she said. "I want to do something bigger, more important."
The first thing she did was contact her friend and co-worker, Grusk. Grusk, who watched both of her parents die as a result of cancer, said, "We have to do this."
Now the two are working on fund raising and training for the walk. Grusk said the first batch of fund-raising letters, to friends and family, were going out this weekend. Later mailings will go to area industries, she said.
To prepare for the 15 to 18 miles they will be expected to walk each day, they are walking golf courses and the towpath between LaSalle and Utica, and they are doing Tai-Bo for endurance. Nall said she hoped this training would be the beginning of a lifestyle change.
They will be sleeping in tents during the walk. The tents, hot breakfasts and dinners, showers and sinks will be transported with the walkers each day.
A volunteer crew of 500 doctors, chiropractors and massage therapists and assistants will be available to support the participants throughout the walk.
"I'm a 'glass is half full' kind of person," Grusk said. "It will happen." In the conclusion of her fundraising letter she promises, "I will walk those miles -- no matter what!"
In October 1998, in the first walk of this kind, in California, participants raised $5 million. Three more "3-Days" are planned this year, in Atlanta, New York and Los Angeles.
The proceeds benefit Avon's Breast Cancer Awareness Crusade, which has raised over $25 million and awarded grants to 300 programs in 49 states and Puerto Rico.
The Apache April 29, 1999