BLET Feature

Spring 2004
Volume 111 - No. 1

Race for the cure

Kathy Yambra (kneeling at right with red pants) prepares to run in the Race for the Cure with family members. She serves the GIA as the Texas State Legislative Representative.

Each one of us knows someone who has been afflicted with breast cancer, whether it is a mother, a sister, a family member, a co-worker or a friend. For Kathy Yambra, it is all of the above.

Not only is Kathy herself a survivor of the disease, but she has watched her mother and younger sister die from it.

They are not alone. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime.

"Breast Cancer has touched my family along with many others around the world," said Sister Yambra, a GIA member who serves as the organization's Texas State Legislative Representative. "I lost my Mother, Mary Anne Bosworth, a little over two years ago and my youngest sister, Michele, lost her battle with the worst form of breast cancer - Inflammatory Breast Cancer - in early March."

Sister Yambra decided to honor her mother and sister by participating, along with 9,056 others, in the Austin Texas Race for the Cure. She took pledges and set a goal of reaching $500 in pledges, but she more than doubled that goal by receiving $1,025 in pledges.

"I pray that none of you is touched by this dreadful disease in the way that our family has been," she said.

Kathy's husband, Herb, is the President and Legislative Representative of BLE Division 194 (Houston). He also serves as the Second Vice Chairman of the Texas State Legislative Board.

The Komen Race for the Cure was created in 1983 by Nancy Brinker, who established the Komen Foundation to honor the memory of her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36.

In 20 years, the Komen Race for the Cure has grown from one local race in Dallas, Texas, with 800 participants to an international series with approximately 1.5 million people participating in 2003. Today, with more than 100 race events in the United States as well as in Rome, Italy, and Frankfurt, Germany, the Komen Race for the Cure Series is the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world.

For more than 20 years, the Komen Foundation has been a global leader in the fight against breast cancer through its support of innovative research and community-based outreach programs. Working through a network of U.S. and international Affiliates and events like the Komen Race for the Cure, the Komen Foundation is fighting to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by funding research grants and supporting education, screening and treatment projects in communities around the world.

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