More than 500 participants laced up their sneakers, donned their best roseate finery and headed over to Riverside Park, puttin’ on the pink at the 12th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Indian River County walk to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research, education and patient services.
And the newest team, Real Men Wear Pink of Indian River County, really stepped up the effort by adding more than $40,000 to this year’s fundraising efforts. This local group of 16 prominent doctors and professionals is leading the State of Florida as a new arm of the American Cancer Society’s breast cancer fundraising efforts.
In addition to their contributions, roughly 100 individuals and teams raised more than $52,000 which, when added to sponsorships and money still being collected, was expected to put the total amount at more than $100,000.
With each step, participants who take part in the non-competitive 5K walk celebrate survivors and honor the memories of those who are no longer with us.
“Breast cancer is a terrible disease,” said Dr. Daniel Glotzer, MSABC committee chair. “The American Cancer Society does a great job providing the framework for survivors to have a place to have the support they need, but also from the scientific end to support research. Making strides are the ultimate events when it comes to raising funds to fight the disease.”
In Florida alone 16,770 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year and 2,880 will die from the disease. Thanks to increased awareness, millions of lives are saved by early detection.
