VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Strides Against Breast Cancer
Vincent Zakian: Central New York is known for its beautful fall colors, but one color has come to define the month of October: pink. It was a sea of pink at the American Cancer Society’s Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Syracuse on Oct. 20. Which saw record attendance and raised over $200,000 in search of a cure.
Robert Elinskas: So it shows us that we’re making progress in this fight, giving them a chance to celebrate with their family and friends, mark another year of survivorship, but also raising those funds that are going to lead to new breakthroughs that are going to help people down the line that have to face this diagnosis as well.
Zakian: The Strides Against Breast Cancer walk was put on by Syracuse’s own Upstate Medical Center, their cancer division, which has done a lot to help with cancer in the Syracuse community in the past.
Zakian: On the same day as the walk, Upstate also saw one of its resident health advocates, one Janet Bacon, celebrated along with other breast cancer survivors at the Buffalo Bills game last Sunday. Joni Richter is the associate director of cancer center partnerships at the ACS, and she talked about the importance of their parternship with Upstate.
Joni Richter: We’re looking to prevent cancer. We’re looking to cure it. Since we’ve been involved there’s been a 44% drop in breast cancer mortality rates. So we want to prevent it, we want to find it early, and we want to make sure there are treatments that work. So to see the community coming out, not only to support survivors, but caregivers, neighbors, friends. That’s where hope happens. If you want to be here for another tomorrow, get screened today.
Zakian: Vincent Zakian, NCC News.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a time to shed light on a disease that 1 in 8 women will have, according to the American Cancer Society. The color pink is everywhere in October, and it has been that way for a long time now. However, new and perhaps overdue issues are now getting the spotlight as a result of the ACS event Strides Against Breast Cancer that took place in downtown Syracuse on Oct. 20, 2024.
Strides Against Breast Cancer is a nationwide movement, and Syracuse saw its version of the event be a resounding success. Three thousand and five hundred people partook in the fundraiser, to raise over $200,000.
“I think the event is going to continue to grow, we’re going to keep fighting until there is significant progress in the fight against breast cancer. Hopefully ultimately a cure, but if not that, the ability so that people aren’t losing their lives from breast cancer,” said Robert Elinskas, senior community development manager at the ACS.
“It shows us that we’re making progress in this fight,” said Elinskas.
But also raising those funds that are going to lead to new breakthroughs that are going to help people down the line that have to face this diagnosis.
Some of those “new breakthroughs” the ACS is working toward center around the subject of Black and general women’s health.
The ACS is kicking off its “Voices of Black Women” study. This is part of an initiative to address a major demographic health crisis in the United States.
“Women of color, if they get cancer…by [about] 50% have a higher incidence of passing away,” said Joni Richter, associate director of cancer center partnerships at the ACS.
Richter was not shy about the potential impacts of what she thinks will be “the largest study ever for women of color to participate in.”
“The goal is to get 100,000 women between 25 and 55 that identify as Black that do not have cancer to participate,” said Richter, “We want to know what was their childhood like? What was their education like? What support do they have? Why are 50% more women of color diagnosed dying? It’s not right, we don’t think that’s acceptable, and we’re not going to stand by and watch it.”
While immensely important, large academic studies tend to reduce people to numbers. It is that very fact that Richter believes will set this study apart and make it a success.
“I think that this is going to be the most groundbreaking study because it’s literally asking people to tell their stories,” she said.
The ACS is also funding general women’s initiatives in order to make screenings and mammograms more accessible.
“In Central New York we’re also funding a quality improvement study with a program called “She Matters” through Upstate Cancer Center. They work with Syracuse housing and they train resident housing advisors…It’s a community coming together,” said Richter.
One of those resident health advocates is breast cancer survivor Janet Bacon, who was honored along with a host of other survivors at the Buffalo Bills football game on Oct. 20, 2024 at Highmark Stadium, according to a statement from Upstate Medical University.
“Many times, all it takes is friendly conversation with a neighbor to provide encouragement and guidance…When they hear it from me—someone who’s been there and done that—they get the message,” Bacon said in the statement.
The impact of the ACS, especially this time of year, is undeniable. According to the ACS there had been a 44% drop in breast cancer mortality since they began raising funds. As for where your money goes when you donate, Richter detailed what progress toward a treatment or cure looks like.
“We normally fund scientists early in their career,” she said. “They tend to have the most new and novel ideas, and the most creative solutions.”
The results speak for themselves.
“Literally every treatment for breast cancer that exists now that is saving lives is funded by the American Cancer Society,” Richter said.