A Better Region 8: Pink Warrior Walk for breast cancer awareness

(KAIT) - Each October, our communities at large merge into a sea of pink for breast cancer awareness.

The change honors and remembers the women and men lost to this cancer and those who continue enduring. It also offers support and a prayer of hope for those who will.

But as light as the color is, the disease is not. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I can tell you just how ugly it is.

Early-detection services remain our best tools to fight this disease, and a remarkable group of women came together after the northeast Arkansas Race For the Cure was permanently canceled earlier this year, leaving many early-detection breast health services in jeopardy for our region’s uninsured and under-insured women and men.

These women organized a new event that raises funds to provide life-saving mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies to any person who needs them.

This inaugural event, known as the “Pink Warrior Walk,” will be held throughout October as a virtual 5K. The cost is $25, and participants are encouraged to walk or run 3.1 miles sometime during the month.

Every cent raised through the Pink Warrior Walk stays right here in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri, providing vital breast-health services to our most vulnerable populations.

For more information or to register for this year’s Pink Warrior Walk, please visit its landing page on St. Bernards Healthcare’s website.

Breast cancer will always be part of our survivor’s stories, but together, we can make sure it doesn’t cut a single-story short. We hope to see our fellow pink warriors next month, which makes this a better Region 8.

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