One in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Many families around the United States witness important women in their lives fight the battle of breast cancer. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, over 220,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and more than 40,000 women will lose their lives to this disease. This means that 40,000 families around the country will lose a loved one in their lives due to this disease. The Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure is a non-profit organization seeking to understand the basic biology of breast cancer and donates money to find a cure for this disease.

Each October, during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, streets all over the country are filled with participants of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Susan Goodman Komen was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 33 and died at age 36. Her younger sister, Nancy Goodman Brinker, promised Komen she would do her best to find a cure for breast cancer. The Race for the Cure is Brinker’s way of spreading awareness and raising money to fund the best research for the treatment of breast cancer.

Senior Taylor Gibney is a proud participant in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Gibney’s mother, Cathy Gibney, is a breast cancer survivor.

“My mom was diagnosed when I was a freshman,” says Gibney, who believes the diagnosis brought her family closer and made them appreciate each other more.

Gibney described her experience doing the Race for the Cure as inspirational and heartwarming.  She loved watching her mother walk proudly with the rest of the cancer patients and survivors. Gibney was inspired by a smiling man who was also running in the race. Both his mother and his wife passed away after battling breast cancer. Gibney explained that the man was running the race because he knew his mother and his wife would have wanted him to. He  was one of the fastest runners in the race, and he hoped to make them proud.

Gibney said the race donates an huge amount of money to research. According to The Susan G. Komen Foundation, its goal is to “fund the brightest minds and best breast cancer research that has the potential to reduce breast cancer rates within the decade.” The foundation believes that its researchers can outsmart breast cancer.

Like Gibney, many others have a story relating to their reason for running in the race. Junior Greer Garvin has an aunt and a grandmother who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Garvin believes the Race for the Cure does a great job raising awareness about breast cancer. Garvin commented that because the Susan G. Komen Foundation is advertised so well, people are more likely to donate.

The Race for the Cure gave Gibney “a sense of purpose and accomplishment.” She knows that participating in the race against breast cancer not only means a lot to her mother but to all of the other cancer patients walking along side her.  The Race for the Cure is a race Gibney hopes to win.