NEWS ARTICLE: Sisters Network of Central NJ 5K Walk & Photos
in Home News Tribune Sunday, 10/7/07
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By ERICA HARBATKIN
STAFF WRITER
eharbatkin@thnt.com
FRANKLIN — Regina Lowery spent her Friday at the hospital,
waiting for the chemotherapy drug to finish dripping into her
veins.
Less than 24 hours later she was out of bed and walking around
the Franklin Township Municipal Complex, surrounded by hundreds
of other women who have spent their Fridays the same way.
Nearly 1600 people convened at the municipal complex Saturday
for the Sisters Network of Central Jersey's third annual Robyn
Michele Collins Memorial Breast Cancer Awareness Walk, bringing
together survivors and raising money for the organization.
Last year's walk financed reconstructive surgery for a 41-year-old
survivor whose insurance didn't cover the procedure.
"I've had weeks and weekends when I would be in bed, but
it's so important to be here, just to tell my story and put
a real face behind the shirt," said Lowery, who was wearing
the bright pink breast cancer shirt each participant received.
"I feel ill but I think it's more important for me to be
here than to be home in bed."
Sisters Network, a national organization that began in 1997
to provide support for black women with breast cancer, aims
to educate women about their risks and bring together survivors.
A group of four survivors brought the organization to Central
Jersey because they couldn't find another support group where
they felt comfortable.
"We got together and said we need to form something,"
said Dorothy Reed, president of the Central Jersey chapter and
one of the four founding members. "We were going to the
Cancer Institute's support group but for some reason black women
didn't come or didn't keep coming."
So Reed, Lareatha Payne, Rosa Davis and Pearl Grace began the
Sisters Network in the area in 2000, holding annual events and
monthly survivor meetings to bring people together.
Grace died a year later, but the three other founding members
continue to organize and attend all the events.
The Pearl Grace Memorial Golf Tournament will be held Oct.
15 at the Trenton Country Club. A health summit will take place
Dec. 1 at the Hyatt Regency. And the group sponsors a "mammogram
contest," in which women show proof of their mammogram
to be entered in a drawing with a grand prize of $500.
"The idea is to encourage women to get the annual mammogram,
and to bring them together," said Bebe Major, the organization's
public relations director and coordinator of 5K. "If something
turns up on the mammogram, participants already have hundreds
of friends to lean on for support."
Payne, the chapter vice president, was first diagnosed in 1997.
She underwent a lumpectomy and radiation, but the cancer came
back in 2005. It didn't show up on a mammogram, but Payne said
she knew it was there. "I had to insist on additional testing,
and that's when it was found," she said.
This time she had a mastectomy, and now the cancer is under
control.
Behind her, Lowery was standing under a tent as "This
Little Light of Mine" blasted from the speakers. Groups
of survivors wearing bright pink T-shirts were singing and dancing
to the electrifying sounds of Valerie Adams &
The Dimensions Band, a 5K sponsor.
"It's good to have your family and friends," Lowery
said. "But unless you've walked in these shoes, you truly
don't know what we're going through."
— Contributions can be sent to the Sisters Network of
Central Jersey at 1201 Hamilton Street, Somerset, NJ, 08873
(732) 246-8300. |
The acquisition of this property will enable our nonprofit organization
to better serve the Central Jersey community and the breast cancer survivors
and their families who greatly benefit from our services.
Affiliate Chapter of 
