The Story of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation

The story of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is both sad and inspiring.  It has been making a difference in the world of breast cancer for just over twenty years.  The foundation supports research and clinical trials.  The foundation is also instrumental in providing for local outreach programs in many communities.  It has a network that started in the United States but now reaches around the world.  They are fighting to erase breast cancer as a life-threatening disease and killer of women.  They support research, education, screening, and treatment projects around the world.

Susan’s story begins in Peoria Illinois where she and her sister Nancy grew up.  Both married and Nancy moved to Texas, married, and had a son.  Susan graduated from college, went back to Peoria, and married her college sweetheart.  Her life seemed perfect until she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Things were much different twenty years ago.  Breast cancer was not fully understood, and family doctors were usually not equipped to treat a woman with breast cancer. If it were today and Susan was diagnosed with breast cancer, her recovery might have been possible. 

Susan G. Komen had a resolve to beat cancer, and in the process to make it a little easier for other women who were battling the disease.  She wanted women to have the education they needed to make difficult decisions about their treatment.  She hated the way some waiting rooms looked and wanted to make them cheerier for the women who waited in them.

Her sister Nancy made a promise that she would do everything she could to help other women who would go through the same agonizing times Susan had gone through.  Her sister, Nancy Brinkman, founded the Susan G. Komen Foundation in 1982 in memory of Susan. 

One of the major fundraisers for the Komen foundation is the Race for the Cure.  Pledges are made to anyone who wants to walk or run in this special event.  Many people, who enter, do so in memory of a loved one that died of the disease, or in support of a loved one who is battling the disease.  It is a wonderful sight to see so many wonderful people willing to do their share to make a difference in breast cancer.  You can find the Komen affiliate in your area by going to the web site;  www.komen.org.  Be one of those who walk or run to make a difference for someone with breast cancer.  The funds that come from this event may make it possible for someone you love, or someone you know to have a free screening.  It could save their life. 

Can one person make a difference?  Nancy Brinkman thought so.  That is how the Susan G. Komen Foundation was started.  Nancy was just one woman, but a woman with a vision for breast cancer patients around the world.