EVERETT, OCT. 15: Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC) is an annual event that goes beyond a typical 5k fundraiser walk. It serves as a gathering point for thousands of people affected by cancer, offering support and solidarity.
“The big piece for me is the community and in a couple different ways. It brings people together, it’s uplifting…” Susan Grasdahl American Cancer Society (ACS) volunteer said. “Sometimes when you go into things you feel all alone, and when you’ve got ‘your people’ you got your community. There is just a sense of ‘rightness’ that comes over you.”
Grasdahl never had cancer herself but has been a caregiver for many in her life.
She was a caregiver for her husband who had leukemia, for her mother who had breast and ovarian cancer, and for her sister who had early-onset Alzheimer’s.
“I get the importance of having these people around you, to hold you up and support you,” Grasdahl said.
ACS has been in the Pacific Northwest raising funds for breast cancer research, programs and advocacy for more than a decade.
The ACS event of the year is 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 26 at the Snohomish County Campus Plaza in Everett. The walk itself will begin at 10 a.m. and will start at the county courthouse and go up Colby Ave. until reaching Providence Regional Medical Center. There everyone will turn around.
Aubrey Zoli, ACS Senior Development Manager has been working in breast cancer fundraising for 20 years. She began her work with ACS during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. She took over Making Strides Snohomish this year.
Zoli said that Making Strides Snohomish expects between 700-1000 participants this year.
“I continue to do this type of work not only because I have a personal connection with my mom and my aunt but because over 20 years, I’ve gotten to know a lot of other people that have either been impacted themselves or lost people to it.”
Zoli, Grasdahl and volunteer Roxanne Stickney recently accepted a proclamation from the City of Edmonds proclaiming October Breast Cancer Awareness Month on behalf of ACS.
“Overtime it just became a huge part of my identity and a lot of the people who are in my life now are because of the work that I have done,” Zoli said.
1 in 8 women, or approximately 13% of the female population in the U.S., will develop breast cancer in their lifetime according to ACS.
“The reality is that if you do not know someone with breast cancer now, chances are that sometime in your lifetime you will,” Zoli said.
Advances in early detection and treatment methods have significantly increased breast cancer survival rates in recent years, and there are currently over 4 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.
Although the fundraiser walk is the main event, there are many event activities before and after the walk. There will be a Pink Out Zone, Hope Garden, Kids Zone, Photo Booth and more.
Grasdahl said that MSABC is an “opportunity to celebrate those who are still with us, survivors and thrivers and to remember and celebrate people that we have lost to this disease.”
You can register for the event online here or on the day of the event.
You can also find more about breast cancer early detection and diagnosis here.
“For me, the day of it’s a lot of smiles, it’s a lot of joy. It’s really fun just to take it in,” Grasdahl said.
