Continuing the Fight

May 2006 Special Advertising Section

Susan G. Komen Foundation
Jan Zimmerman’s first introduction to the efforts of the Susan G. Komen Foundation came just nine days after she had a double mastectomy in 1995, when she participated in her first Race of the Cure. By the next fall, volunteers from the local affiliate were recruiting her.

The Twin Cities chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation is one of the organization’s largest affiliates. In 2005, this division donated about $1.5 million to local breast cancer research, prevention, and treatment programs. Most of the proceeds from local events go directly to breast cancer research in the Twin Cities; only 25 percent is given back to the national foundation.

Countless women and men volunteer their time with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, putting on various local events in addition to the Race for the Cure: Shop for the Cure, Golf for the Cure, Lee Denim Day, Page for the Cure, Saddle Up for the Cure, Rock the Cure, Drive for the Cure, and Ski for the Cure. While many of the volunteers are not breast cancer survivors, all of them have been touched by the disease. And those who are survivors have their own compelling stories. Zimmerman, who is sixty-three, has spent the last eleven years helping other breast cancer patients by volunteering and speaking on behalf of the Komen Foundation and through other personal ventures.

Zimmerman was working at Dayton’s when she first learned she had breast cancer. When the Komen Foundation recruited her, she decided to use her expertise in retail to help spearhead Shop for the Cure, an event that coincides annually with Race for the Cure. Each year, the Mall of America donates retail space so the foundation can sell Race for the Cure memorabilia, as well as hand-made cards, jewelry, and other crafts. All of the proceeds from the sale of these items go back to the foundation.

When Shop for the Cure started in the mid-1990s, the store was open for just a few days before the race. Now it’s open every day for more than a month—from April 10 to May 14. Last year, Shop for the Cure raised close to $60,000 for the Komen Foundation.

Even though Zimmerman underwent a radical stem cell transplant within nine months of discovering a lump, the cancer returned. In the years since, Zimmerman’s body has been ravaged by the disease. Still, even though she’s endured chemotherapy regularly for the past two and a half years, her spirit and determination continue to inspire others who are suffering from breast cancer. Zimmerman says that’s her calling: “I made up my mind that if I survived, I’d give a big part of my life to helping other women get through this.” Regis Foundation, Clip for a Cure
It’s been nearly twenty-eight years since Anita Kunin, seventy-five, was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition. It was 1978 and, at the time, breast cancer was not openly discussed. Kunin’s physicians gave her a range of medical options—from undergoing a double mastectomy to doing nothing and keeping a watchful eye on her health. Kunin chose the less-invasive route, deciding to wait and see if the cells became cancerous instead of undergoing surgery. Since she felt there was such a range of opinions about women’s health and little information available, Kunin went back to school to study public health and learn everything she could about the disease.

Kunin continued to go to the doctor about twice a year, and when she and her physicians found a lump in 1986, she was better informed about breast cancer than she had been before. She had a lumpectomy and underwent radiation, and now more than twenty years later, she hasn’t had any recurrances. But other women haven’t been as lucky. That’s why Kunin, the wife of Regis Corp. founder Myron Kunin, created the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research in 1990.

The Regis Foundation had already been raising money for various philanthropic causes. But Kunin knew firsthand the importance of breast cancer research and wanted to make an impact in the search for a cure. After volunteering with the Komen Foundation in Texas (and helping to start the Twin Cities Race for the Cure), Kunin created the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, which focuses on fostering new and innovative research ideas.

At the heart of this foundation is the annual Clip for the Cure on the third Saturday in October, when participating Regis salons give 100 percent of a $15 haircut back to the foundation, donating the costs of labor and products. Salons can also donate a percentage of sales of the Regis product line.

Since 1990, Regis stylists have raised about $5 million for the Regis Foundation and breast cancer research, and Kunin credits the company’s employees and customers for their heroic efforts. “It’s not my story,” she says. “It’s the story of hundreds and hundreds of women.”

Hope Chest for Breast Cancer
Barbara Hensley, fifty-eight, is a different sort of breast cancer survivor. Though she has never suffered physically from the disease, she wears the emotional scars that come from watching loved ones suffer. Hensley’s two sisters died from breast cancer in 1994 and 1996. Three weeks after her second sister passed away, Hensley underwent a double mastectomy as a precaution against getting the disease herself. “To me, it wasn’t a question of if I’d get breast cancer, it was a question of when,” she says. “I wasn’t willing to put my family or myself through that.’”

It was this sort of trauma that led Hensley to quit her high-powered corporate job in 2001 and create Hope Chest for Breast Cancer, which has three parts. The nonprofit foundation donates thousands of dollars each year to local educational programs, research organizations, hospice care, and underserved women with breast cancer. A for-profit retail store sells donated upscale furniture, accessories, and designer women’s clothing, giving most of the proceeds back to the foundation. Finally, Hope Chest is actively seeking entrepreneurs to open franchises around the country.

Hensley came up with this business plan in 2001, opened her first store (in Orono) in December 2002, and was able to donate about $182,000 to her foundation in 2003. Her ultimate goal is to open fifty stores around the country and donate $10 million a year to breast cancer causes. “The hope of the Hope Chest is that my great-grandchildren won’t know what breast cancer is,” Hensley says. “Just like you don’t know what polio is. Let’s just get rid of it.”

General race information: racecure.org or call 952-746-1760 Move Your Feet The Race for the Cure is open to everyone—men and women of all ages, whether or not they’ve suffered from breast cancer. But even though the race is the biggest annual fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, it is more than simply a way to make money for breast cancer research or get some fun exercise. Just ask Laurie Whitt, forty-five, an eleven-year breast cancer survivor and one of the survivor chairpersons for this year’s race. Whitt—who’s endured a double mastectomy and thoracotomy, as well as chemotherapy for most of the past eleven years—first participated in the Race for the Cure in 1996, just a year after she’d been initially diagnosed. She enjoyed the race so much, and was so impressed with the Susan G. Komen Foundation, that she soon started volunteering for the local chapter. This will be her third year helping to organize special gifts and events for breast cancer survivors participating in the 5K run/fitness walk. Before this chairmanship, Whitt served as a volunteer coordinator for four years and as an office volunteer for two years. Though she takes pride in all the roles she’s filled, Whitt is especially pleased with the positive changes she’s helped to make as a survivor chairperson. As the local race has grown—to nearly 50,000 participants last year—Whitt and her co-chair have worked on keeping the Race for the Cure focused on honoring the survivors of the disease.  — L.S.