The annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk is a celebration of survivorship, an occasion to express hope and shared determination to eradicate breast cancer.
More than one million volunteers nationwide sign up, fundraise, and participate in one of ACS noncompetitive, three- to five-mile walks, to support every person affected by breast cancer. Groups, teams and individuals walk to make sure that anyone touched by this disease has a hand to hold. Downtown Jacksonville was packed with cancer survivors, family and friends determined to walk for the cure.
The four mile trek began at Hemming Plaza and was routed through downtown and around the Jaguar stadium and returned to Hemming Plaza for food, fun and entertainment. This year there were 364 teams and 2,256 participants that raised a total of $169,143.78.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in women in the United States, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer. The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 37. Breast cancer death rates have been going down. Right now there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the United States.
Even after accounting for differences in income, past screening rates and access to care, African-American women are diagnosed with more advanced breast cancers and have worse survival than white women.
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