LivingWell Bridge Walk steps off Saturday at Fabyan Forest Preserve

Susan Mielke was amazed by the support for the LivingWell Cancer Resource Center in Geneva in May of 2006 at its LivingWell Bridge Walk, the center's first major fundraiser.

“That first event, about eight months after the center opened, drew about 600 walkers and raised more than $70,000,” said Mielke, who serves as LivingWell's development director.

The fundraiser has grown significantly, drawing 1,200 walkers and raising $280,000 at the 2010 event.

Event organizers are optimistic for the 2011 event, the 6th Annual LivingWell Bridge Walk at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Fabyan Forest Preserve in Geneva.

“We have 1,500 walkers registered already and the fundraising is already ahead of last year by a couple thousand,” Mielke said of the event that starts at the pavilion shelter in Fabyan Forest Preserve on the west side of the Fox River and sends walkers on a 5K stroll into Batavia, across the footbridge near the Batavia City Hall building and back to the starting point.

“When we first were trying to come up with a name for the walk, we decided that we go over or under so many bridges, we would call it the Bridge Walk,” Mielke said. “It is such a wonderful event for us because it gets more people aware of us and involved, and it works for family, friends, dogs and kids.”

Mielke said the event starts with a “celebration walk” of about 130 yards for cancer survivors or those undergoing treatments, as they walk a short distance that is lined by cheering individuals or support groups.

“It is a time to celebrate their lives and recognize the struggles they have gone through,” Mielke said.

The Bridge Walk is all about cancer patients and survivors who have used the resource center to stay motivated and optimistic during their fight against the illness.

Darcy Ringhofer of St. Charles, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2005 when her daughter Makena was only 3 years old, has survived two bouts of breast cancer and views the resource center as a heaven-sent ally. “It's very frightening when you hear that diagnosis and you start to wonder if you'll have to start to videotape yourself so your daughter will remember you and so you can pass on important life lessons in case you can't be there in person,” Ringhofer said. “It's really hard to know where to turn.”

Ringhofer feels she was lucky that the LivingWell center was opening at about the same time and a friend encouraged her to visit.

“I went through treatment and even borrowed a book from LivingWell to help my daughter cope with my treatments,” Ringhofer said.

Help from LivingWell was critical, especially when Ringhofer suffered the setback of an even more aggressive form of cancer in her other breast after recovering from her first treatments.

Ringhofer was grateful that the center, with classes from culinary to yoga to art, grew along with her needs.

She has served on the Bridge Walk committee for the last four years and daughter Makena and husband Joe are also involved in supporting the center.

Mary Pat Wright of Geneva considers herself lucky that she was diagnosed with peritoneal cancer during a routine health exam in 2009 because she had no prior symptoms. The cancer, which originated in her abdominal lining, had spread to numerous organs.

“When diagnosed, I was given the reoccurrence rates for the advanced stage of peritoneal cancer and the survival rates,” Wright said. “I have surpassed the time of most reoccurrences; God is good.”

In addition to the peritoneal cancer, Wright had to undergo a double mastectomy last August, but feels her recovery is going well.

“LivingWell is still an intricate part of this process, “ Wright said. “An issue that many do not realize is what is lost due to cancers.

“You lose who you were,” Wright added. “You become someone new. You also have lost the innocence of a simple ache or pain. You live now with the chronic disease of cancer.”

Wright said her most “freeing” experience was walking in last year's Bridge Walk without a wig or scarf on her bald head.

“I knew that it was a safe place filled with hundreds of people who had been touched in some way by cancer,” Wright explained. “The lack of hair is the one very visible part of the journey.

“At the Bridge Walk, it is a celebration for the cancer survivors, their caregivers, family member and friends,” Wright said. “It is a sign of victory, that yes I have cancer and really look at me — I am a survivor, my family members and friends are all survivors because they are all impacted from this disease.”

Dave Marut of Elburn will walk in the event in honor of his wife Tracey, who volunteered at LivingWell during the final three years of her 11-year battle with colon cancer.

Marut said LivingWell provided counseling for him and his wife with “the best mental health counselors I've ever seen” and helped him deal with the grief of losing his wife.

Numerous other individuals with similar stories will walk for LivingWell during the Bridge Walk, including students from St. Charles East High School, representing the school that raises the most money for the cause.

To register for the race, visit bridgewalk.kintera.org or call Mielke at LivingWell at (630) 262-1111.