Suburban walkers making strides against breast cancer

Important strides are taken every day in the fight against breast cancer.

Sunday marked further steps in the struggle, as several communities in Cook, Lake and DuPage counties participated in the American Cancer Society's 10th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walks in Illinois.

Walks were held in Chicago, Libertyville and Hoffman Estates, among other communities.

The Northwest Suburban Walk at the AT&T campus in Hoffman Estates drew close to 2,000 participants, according to Douglas Adolph, a representative with the American Cancer Society.

The large crowd in Hoffman Estates filed through an arch of pink balloons at about 9 a.m. They were joined by supporters and family members. Some pushed strollers or walked their dogs along the route.

Before the walk, the participants were welcomed by Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod and his wife Joane, herself a breast cancer survivor. Joane McLeod, 56, said she underwent surgery twice 22 years ago.

"I love being 56 years old. I never thought I would get here. This is a great day," she said.

Leading the walkers was 33-year-old survivor Chrissy Saffran, who was diagnosed at age 26 and received chemotherapy, radiation and a bilateral mastectomy. Since then, she has been married and has given birth to two children.

Also among the walkers was Lina Poustka of Streamwood, an 11-year cancer survivor who had a mastectomy and received chemotherapy.

"It actually runs in my family," she said, with cancer affecting her aunt, grandmother, sister and her brother's daughter.

"It's scary. I think it actually hit my family harder. My girls were 16 and 10," she said. "Every year that passes (when she receives a mammogram), it tears you up, because you're always wondering, 'Is this another year that maybe something shows up?' Ninety-nine percent of the time you don't think about it. But it's that 1 percent of the year (when) it comes up, you wonder."

The chemotherapy, Poustka said, was rough.

"The first one that I had, I just got sick from it. And I didn't work for the six months that I was taking treatment. It's hard. I had the mild one, so I can't imagine these women that have the chemo that's very intense," she said.

Dan Conway, president of the American Cancer Society's Northwest Suburban Regional Leadership Board and a general surgeon practicing at Northwest Community Hospital and Alexian Brothers Medical Center, said there are more than 2.4 million breast cancer survivors in America, most of whom will continue to survive because of treatments that have been developed over the years, including breast conservation therapy, partial breast radiation treatments and the drug Herceptin.

Over the past six years, he said, the incidence of breast cancer has dropped every year. The number of breast cancer deaths has dropped by about 2 percent every year for the last six to eight years, he said.

Conway said more women are getting mammograms, rising from only one-third of all women in the late 1980s to roughly 75 percent of all women now.

Linda Scheck, a secretary with the Hoffman Estates Chamber of Commerce, said there is still time to contribute online at the American Cancer Society's fundraising page through next August.

Scheck said the American Cancer Society funds groundbreaking research, guides patients through their experience and helps them with rides to treatment and advocates for access for the uninsured. Scheck called the event "a rallying point to say no one should have to choose between saving her life or her life savings. Breast cancer doesn't fight fair, so we'll do everything we can to help women deserve and earn that fair fight."

AT&T, in addition to opening its campus for the event, also provided several walkers. Kevin Peterson, vice president and general manager of Illinois/Wisconsin AT&T, said two of the walkers lost their wives just months ago, while one employee raised more than $1,900.