Two days, 39.3 miles to cover in fight against cancer
Coming into the 20-mile marker of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, Jill Weinberger of Buffalo Grove lifted her arms in celebration as volunteers at the rest stop cheered and applauded.
"I feel like dancing," said the four-year breast cancer survivor, as she walked with members of her team, including Sheryl Rosen of Wheeling and Lily Sendek of Greenwood, Ind.
"This is an absolutely amazing experience to see this many people coming together to do this," Weinberger added. "There's nothing like the connections you make on this walk."
Weinberger and her team were among the 4,200 walkers who set out Saturday morning from Soldier Field in Chicago on the two-day, 39.3-mile trek. Together, they had drawn more than $9 million in pledges for the Avon Foundation to advance access to care and find a cure for breast cancer.
Among them was M.J. Forbes of Gurnee who finished her chemotherapy in January, walking with her friend Tammy Wener of Vernon Hills.
"I am walking for all of the women and men who went through chemotherapy before me and made my treatment possible," Forbes said.
Walkers followed a route that kept them mostly in Chicago on Saturday, but they marked 20 miles at the Leaning Tower YMCA in Niles.
The full-service rest stop offered walkers everything from water and Gatorade, to food, fruit and high energy snacks, as well as medical attention if needed.
A mother-daughter team, both breast cancer survivors, led the rest stop as team leaders. Rachel Zito of Carol Stream survived breast and ovarian cancer 27 years ago, while her daughter Mia Koslow of Glen Ellyn survived breast cancer two years ago.
They decorated the stop with colorful pinwheels, which they gave to each walker, and dressed their volunteers in T-shirts that said, "Smile."
However, walkers who came through the rest area during the first hour did not want to stop. Instead, they chose to stay on their pace and finish the last 6 miles, reaching Wellness Village set up at Warren Park in Chicago, where they spent the night in tents.
Sisters Mary Dulik of Naperville and Karen Herba of Crystal Lake kept up a brisk pace. While neither has had breast cancer nor had any of their family members, they figured the walk was something they could do.
"I want to make a difference for my young girls," Dulik said. "I want to make it a better world."
After completing what essentially was a marathon walk of 26.2 miles Saturday, participants were primed to walk another 13 miles today, winding them back to Soldier Field, site of the closing ceremony.