Thousands of people gathered in downtown Little Rock on Saturday to run and walk for the breast cancer survivors they all seemed to know, love or be.
It was the first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure for Katrina Wilbon, 51, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in January.
"We walked, we cheered, we danced," she said. Wilbon, who wore a hot pink wig in a bob style, walked the 5K with her daughter, Kanisha Magsby, 26; friend Lovita Griffin, 53; and others in black-and-pink T-shirts emblazoned with the words "The Family."
Wilbon's cancer is in remission, and being surrounded by supporters at the race Saturday was special, she said.
"For me it was just a good feeling," she said. "You never know how people are affected by this until you experience it."
Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a national nonprofit that has raised money to fight breast cancer since 1982. According to its website, one in eight women is diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, and women diagnosed with stage-one breast cancer have a 90 percent survival rate. The odds go down with later diagnoses. Advances in research and medicine have improved survival rates.
Thousands of people attend the Race for the Cure each October in Little Rock and have raised millions of dollars since that race started in 1992. According to the foundation, the Arkansas chapter has distributed more than $14 million throughout the state, funding breast cancer screening, treatment and education grants in 63 counties.
Dressed in pink beads, pink tutus, pink tube socks, pink sunglasses and/or at least one article of everyday clothing colored pink, people walked, ran and cheered for one another and for those who couldn't be there early Saturday morning.
For those who did the 5K, they started at Capitol and Arch streets, went over the Main Street Bridge to North Little Rock City Hall, and circled back around to finish at Third and Center streets. Others could walk a 2K from the 300 block of Broadway to Capitol Avenue heading west, down to Sixth Street heading east.
The event featured blaring Top 40 music, pink-bead throwers and the Little Rock Central High School band playing the likes of Taylor Swift and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Wilbon's friend Lovita Griffin said she noticed the diversity of Saturday's event.
"It's not about color or status," she observed.
The Greens came to the race to remember someone.
Tami Green, 42, brought her 14-year-old twin daughters Madi and Kinley to run their first 5K Komen race in honor of Betty Green, the twins' paternal grandmother and Green's mother-in-law, who died of breast cancer.
Along with them was Kelli Hernandez, the twins' aunt and Tami Green's sister, who lost a high school classmate to breast cancer this year. Hernandez, 38, has also lost a sister-in-law to the disease and has another fighting it.
"I'm so hoping they find a cure for this," Tami Green said. She added that she was proud of the turnout.
"We want a cure for this," she said. "We have a lot of faith in the medical community to find a cure."
Metro on 10/11/2015