 IT STARTED
WITH A
PROMISE
Nationally, it started with a promise between two sisters. Locally, it was the collective loss of a friend that began the San Antonio Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Twenty-five years ago, Susan Goodman Komen was dying of breast cancer. Her sister, Nancy G. Brinker, made a promise to her younger sister that she would do everything in her power to fight the disease. Shortly after Suzy passed away, the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, now called Susan G. Komen for the Cure, was born. Today, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is an international organization with 125 affiliates.
In May of 1997, a handful of women, diagnosed with breast cancer and relying on each other to provide optimistic support, decided to channel their efforts into something that would help others. That determination and vision for breast health in the community blossomed into the Komen San Antonio Affiliate.
The mission of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment.
“When we told (Komen) national that we wanted to start a chapter and a Race for the Cure, their response was “Nobody has ever done this before – are you sure?” explained Dianne Rockefeller, one of the founding five and the first president of the San Antonio Affiliate board of directors. Rockefeller and the others assured the national organization they wanted to do both.
Rockefeller, along with Kathy Adjemian, Mary Elizabeth “Bitsy” Brumage, Carol Oberman and Jerry Worden were trailblazers in the community by spearheading the effort. What they didn’t realize is they achieved something no other Komen Affiliate had ever done before – or since: start an Affiliate from the ground up and host the first ever Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure® in the same year.
 The Race attracted about 2,400 people in 1998 to walk around the track at Alamo Stadium and raised approximately $50,000. As the San Antonio Affiliate grew in volunteer numbers and participation, so did the Affiliate’s determination to help end this disease and support recently diagnosed women with low-income jobs and little or no health insurance. Ten years after that first Race, Komen organizers expect close to 30,000 people to participate in the 10th Annual Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure® at the Alamodome on Saturday, March 31st, and raise more than $1 million.
The Affiliate was created in memory of Karen Wood, a friend of the founding five, who had passed away from breast cancer. Carol Oberman was instrumental in the creation of the Affiliate as a founder, but she lost her battle with the disease shortly after the first Race. And in November of 2006, Brumage succumbed to breast cancer after a long fight.
“Each time we hear of a person losing their battle with this disease, it inspires us to work even harder to raise awareness and funds to find a cure,” said current executive director, Niki Simpson.
Komen San Antonio now employs four full-time staff in addition to the 800 volunteers that participate annually with the organization.
“We are extremely grateful for all that our founders and the San Antonio community have done to grow and expand the life-saving grants and services our Affiliate provides to Bexar County,” said Simpson. “We look forward to the next 10 years and the vision of a world without breast cancer!”
 The San Antonio Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is celebrating its 10th anniversary through May 2007. Since inception, Komen San Antonio has contributed more than $5 million in grants to fund a variety of community-based projects that reflect our mission to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education, screening and treatment, and provide vital services to the medically underserved of Bexar County.
The 10th Annual Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure® is scheduled Saturday, March 31, 2007. To register to participate or make a donation, go to www.komensanantonio.org.
“I guess you can say that I feel blessed to have had cancer,” reflected Rockefeller. “It’s weird, but breast cancer was a gift to me, and I somehow made lemonade out of the lemons.” |
