On Sunday, May 6, 2012, bike racers, kids, and anti-cancer advocates“occupied”
downtown Dana Point, California at the 6th Annual Dana Point Grand Prix
of Cycling. With almost 1000 racers and twelve races going from 7:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m., the DPGP is the biggest single-day cycling event in the
country and it continues to grow every year. The delight of the day for
me was the kids’ race; about 400 kids of all ages, from tiny to
tall, pedaling their little legs off. I’m still smiling and laughing about it.
Closer to my heart, this day marked the 2
nd Annual
Breakaway from CancerWalk. Clare Cameron,
Pacific Meso Center’s Executive Director and Nurse Practitioner
Ann Rorie joined hands with the hundreds of survivors, children, spouses and friends
to show our fighting spirit and can-do attitude against cancer. Dana Point
High School’s Drum Line led the walk around the 0.8 course winding
through neighborhoods overlooking beautiful Dana Point Harbor. The young
and old, the healthy and hurting, all showed up to both give and take
hope and support. It felt good and it felt right.
I was proud to walk beside Sue Johnson and her grandson. Sue lost her beloved husband
John earlier this year to mesothelioma. According to Sue, “Roger and
his team did an over the top job in helping put on this amazing show of
love and respect. There’s so much grimness with this disease, it
just feels good to walk in the sun with other survivors and their families.”
Sue’s son
Michael “MJ” Johnson, racing for
Amgen’s Breakaway from Cancer, which is co-sponsored by the Pacific Meso Center, raced like a champion
in two big races. He didn't win, but he won the hearts of everyone
with his full-throttle effort.
It was also uplifting to see
Terry Latham, who continues to astonish us with his resilience, courage and optimism.
He walked the walk with his wife Maryla, just as they did last year.
Rosemarie Ganoe and her daughter Elena also participated in the walk after just hosting
a successful fundraiser last month in San Pedro in honor of her husband
Mark, whom she lost last year. The Faraqs were also on hand, all smiles
and brimming with a thirst for more life.
Roger, my boss who doesn’t know the word “moderation,”
competed in two races (he would use the word “hammered”) and
also co-announced the day’s events. He and Ann donated
$25,000 to Pacific Meso Center to honor meso patients and their families who joined other cancer survivors
in the Breakaway walk.
Events like this continue to remind us that if we are going to tame mesothelioma,
we’ll need to pursue innovative therapies, which will require both
a “team approach” and more funding. Meso is an unrepentant
malignancy that will not give up the secrets to its demise, or even control,
easily. Converting meso into a treatable chronic disease, like diabetes,
is a fine goal and easy thing to say, but it’s far harder to actually
achieve without the resources, which are sadly lacking. Mobilizing supporters
is the first step in building the level of awareness we need to encourage
our friends in the government, pharmaceutical, industry, labor and legal
communities to invest in the fight.
We thank the City of Dana Point for hosting this incredible community event.
We also want to thank the Amgen Corporation for sponsoring the Breakaway
Walk and for taking an interest in mesothelioma. We are looking forward
to walking the walk every single day!