Danette Goulet -- Editor’s Notebook

I can’t quite believe I’m going to do this.

I’ve actually never done anything like it before.

But a year ago, while working at the Daily Pilot, I covered the Susan

G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s ninth annual Race for the Cure in

Newport Beach. I was so moved by the pride, determination and sheer will

of the thousands of breast cancer survivors that I vowed to run in it the

next year.

It was a heart-wrenching day of mourning and celebration that drew

more than 8,000 onlookers in addition to the 10,000 volunteers and 27,000

participants, 1,500 of whom were breast cancer survivors.

So here it is, September again and I’ve remembered that vow even if I

haven’t really prepared for it.

Too often in journalism we are present for events, provide coverage

before and after, which may help raise funds or awareness, but we are

still on the outside.

In keeping our professional distance, we are there for a special or

meaningful event, but are not a part of it.

We don’t get personally involved. We don’t applaud. We don’t have

opinions.

And yet, it was impossible to be there, sitting with a family who had

recently lost their mother to breast cancer and not be monumentally

moved.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. women

ages 40-55 and is second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths.

This year 182,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and

43,300 women will die of it, according to the National Breast Cancer

Foundation, Inc.

But it is not just women.

The National Breast Cancer Foundation reports that this year 1,600 men

will also be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die.

At present, one woman in eight either has or will develop breast

cancer in her lifetime.

It has become so prevalent that most everyone’s life had been touched

by it in some way.

And so I will keep my vow. I will not be an observer this year, but a

participant.

Of the money raised by the race, 75% stays here in Orange County for

local outreach, education, screening and treatment. The remaining 25%

goes to the international foundation for research grants and outreach

programs.

The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the third largest

fund-raising organization in the world in the fight against breast

cancer, has 115 affiliates in the United States and abroad working to

educate people, offer screening and treatment and eventually find a cure

for breast cancer.

Since it began in 1982, the Foundation and its affiliates have raised

more than $240 million.

* DANETTE GOULET is the assistant city editor. She can be reached at

(714) 965-7170 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .