Kevin Barry and Jenny D’Amato rest during lunch.

Kevin Barry was watching TV in his Phoenix home when a story about the Susan G. Komen 3-Day^® came on TV. Any other year, this may not have caused him to think, but in 2002, his sweet wife had passed away after a nine and a half year battle with breast cancer, and he felt moved to do something. She was diagnosed only six weeks after his daughter was born in 1988, and her passing came just before their daughter’s 8th grade graduation. He walked his first Komen 3-Day in Arizona. The Boston 3-Day this weekend is his 17th walk.

Kevin Barry’s pink puffs ride atop his pink running shoes.

Why the Boston 3-Day? Kevin and Jenny D’Amato from Philadelphia struck up a friendship on a previous 3-Day^® (as so many walkers do!), and they keep in touch. It was Jenny who encouraged Kevin to fly to Boston and to participate in the cause that is so dear to the Bostonians. Even though Jenny is from Philadelphia, she is connected to friends in the area and is motivated by a close friend from college who is currently battling breast cancer.

The world of the 3-Day knits together people from all over, a touching reminder to me that we are all connected in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.