More than 20,000 Dallasites braved the 40-degree weather on Saturday morning to celebrate Big D’s fight against breast cancer. Honorary chair Pat Smith (wife of Cowboys legend Emmitt Smith) and Komen Dallas County executive director Jennifer Legere welcomed a pink sea of survivors, supporters and sponsors to the 31st Komen Dallas Race for the Cure at NorthPark Center.
Smith, who lost her mother to breast cancer 20 years ago, kicked off the Race’s 5K and the celebratory Survivors March, which was visibly the most moving and emotional highlight of the morning.
The first ever Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure was held in Dallas in 1983 with 800 runners—it is now Big D’s largest breast cancer fundraiser. The Komen Dallas County event funds lifesaving breast health services for residents in one of the nation’s top uninsured counties along with cutting-edge research to find the cures.
In Dallas County:
· An estimated five families lose a loved one to breast cancer each week.
· An estimated four people are diagnosed with breast cancer each day.
· More than a third of women do not get an annual screening mammogram
· More than a quarter of residents do not have health insurance.
In the last five years alone, the Komen Dallas Race has helped fund $9.4 million in no-cost breast health services for uninsured and underinsured residents and $3 million in national breast cancer research. Learn more about the Race and Komen Dallas County at www.komen-dallas.org.
