Introducing a New Way to 3-Day: 3-Day Nation

This year, we’re introducing a new experience. A new way to bring together all the members of our 3-Day family and the thousands of others who have supported Susan G. Komen^® over the years. Introducing 3-Day Nation, coming to you — wherever you are — this October.

Susan G. Komen 3-Day^® Nation is a new kind of 3-Day for EVERYONE. With no age limit and a lower fundraising requirement of $1,000 ($250 for kids under 16), it’s more accessible than ever before!

This experience promises to bring the magic of the Pink Bubble to 3-Day walkers across the country. October 2 marks the start of 3-Day Nation with a live-streamed Opening Ceremony which will kick off two weeks of inspiring, entertaining, real-time and on-demand programming. In the first two weeks, you can walk 50 miles at your own pace, however you like. And on October 17, we’ll share a nationwide 10-mile walk, united as one 3-Day Nation!

You’ll receive a 3-Day Nation Pink Bubble Bundle with a T-shirt, a medal, promise ribbons and lots of other goodies, to help you feel the love and community of the 3-Day wherever you are.

The 3-Day Nation experience will include many 3-Day traditions and well-known ceremonies, including our Halfway Celebration and our powerful Honor Ceremony, as well as lots of 3-Day style fun, entertainment and challenges along the way.

On Sunday, October 17, all of 3-Day Nation will join together for a final, shared 10-mile walk with grass-roots gatherings, led by 3-Day team captains in past 3-Day cities across the country. To culminate the experience, we’ll end together, as we always do, with our Closing Ceremony.

Walking across time zones and zip codes, coast to coast, in small towns and big cities, we’ll raise more funds to save lives, honor our survivors and remember why we committed to the 3-Day in the first place.

3-Day Nation is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced — it’s an opportunity we’ve never had before, a huge milestone for our 3-Day community, and a key part of our movement and mission to end breast cancer forever. Grab your friends, family and co-workers and join us for a new 3-Day experience of connection, impact and fun!

Read all about it and register today at The3Day.org/Nation.

Kick-Off Survivor Speaker Brittany G.

The 2021 San Diego 3-Day Virtual Kick-Off on November 21^st was our final Virtual Kick-Off of the year. We loved getting together with our amazing 3-Day participants and getting to hear their stories. Brittany G. spoke at our evening celebration and really moved us with her story. If you didn’t get a chance to hear her speak, here is her story, in her own words.

Hello! My name is Brittany and I am a young breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 2017, just a few days after my 30^th birthday. I found the lump on my own in the shower, just by accident! I was washing my armpit and my wrist grazed something that didn’t feel right. I got it checked out immediately. My doctor was hoping it was just a cyst or something, but wanted to play it safe, so she sent me for a mammogram and ultrasound, which lead to a biopsy and a positive result for breast cancer.

Things moved along quickly after that. Within a few weeks I had a single mastectomy and once I was recovered from that, I started chemo. Chemo was something I was really hoping to avoid, and so I sought multiple opinions from doctors, but they all said that would be my best option. I did cold capping throughout chemo so I was able to keep most of my hair. It was super helpful to have a sense of normalcy and be able to stay as private as I wanted about what I was going through with strangers at work and out in public.

Last day of chemo! November 2017

After chemo was over, I did five weeks of radiation and then immunotherapy, and finally after a very long year, I was done with surgeries and treatments and immediately got my port removed! I was ready to move on with my life and put breast cancer behind me. But the universe had other plans for me! Later on in 2018 I was having a routine chest MRI that found some lesions on my sternum. I had those biopsied and it ended up being MORE cancer. So treatment started up again — I got a new port, did more immunotherapy, and was on a chemo pill for a year. I also had surgery to remove my sternum and replace it with a fake one!

Sternum surgery — March 2019

Today, I am almost one year out from finishing treatment from that and so far my scans have all been clean! Earlier this year, I got a mastectomy cover up tattoo which was something I wanted to get from the very beginning. It was a perfect way to wrap up this part of the journey.

After my mastectomy tattoo — January 2019

Throughout my whole breast cancer journey, it was really important to me to live life like I normally would. Of course I rested when I needed to, but I continued to work full-time, exercise, travel and do things I love. I remember after my first chemo I asked the nurses what I was allowed to do that evening. They said whatever I felt up to, so my husband and I went to a baseball game! A few weeks after my first treatment we traveled to Canada, and the day I finished my last chemo treatment we flew to Vegas to celebrate! We even sold our house and bought a new one when I was in the middle of chemo. I guess you could say nothing can stop me!

I love to share my story because I feel like I am a great example of how breast cancer doesn’t care how old you are. I maintained positivity throughout, and it was SO helpful. If my positivity and story can help even one person, I’d say that is a success!

Over the years, even before I was diagnosed, I participated in Race for the Cure events and always aspired to do a 3-Day walk at some point. The Race for the Cure events were always amazing, so I can’t even imagine what a 3-Day event will be like! Last year my mother-in-law, who is also a survivor, signed up with me for the San Diego 3-Day. We are looking forward to walking together next year!

Bikers for Tatas Event — October 2017

Thank you, Brittany, for sharing your story and your amazing positivity — both at the San Diego 3-Day Virtual Kick-Off and again here for all to read. We can’t wait to see you experience your very first 3-Day next November! We know you’re going to love the Pink Bubble.

Fundraising Challenge Winner Lucy D.

As part of the 2021 San Diego Virtual Kick-Off, we held a fundraising challenge during the week leading up to the Kick-Off, November 16-20. The 3-Dayer who raised the most money during the challenge period won an amazing 3-Day branded prize—a Birdie Box with headphones, a water bottle and a Bluetooth speaker. The winner was Lucy D., who raised $4,881in just five days!

We wanted to know how she did it and pass her advice and experience on to other 3-Day participants. So, we asked her a few questions.

What is your history with the 3-Day?
I did my first walk in San Diego in 2005 and have done it every year since! I did two walks back-to-back in 2007, Tampa Bay and San Diego, and 2021 marks my 17^th walk! I have raised more than $50,000 for my own 3-Day fundraising and way more than that if you count all the money I gave to team members to help them get to their goals!

Why do you walk?
I started out doing the walk as a fitness challenge. A co-worker had done the 3-Day a couple of times, and I was overweight and needed some motivation to exercise. So, I decided in 2004 that I would make it my goal to be able to do the 3-Day with my friend by the next year, 2005. After all the training, by the time the event came up, I had lost over 100 pounds! But after all that work, I didn’t want to stop. I had come to realize that breast cancer was everywhere! I signed up to walk again! That year, three of my co-workers’ lives were impacted by breast cancer, so I knew I needed to keep walking and keep fundraising and keep making a difference!

What is your connection to the cause?
Fortunately, no one in my family has been diagnosed with breast cancer, knock on wood! But over the years of doing the walks, breast cancer keeps rearing its ugly head in people I care about—friends, co-workers, plus all the wonderful survivors (teammates) I’ve met and walked with for so long! Big shout out to my Powered by Optimism team captain, Lisa Partner! I am more than connected to the cause by now—I am immersed and enveloped!

What techniques did you use to raise that much money in just five days?
Since 2010, my husband and I have been putting on a golf tournament as my big fundraiser. Since it usually is in September, very often I will have my minimum fundraising goal already met via my regular donors by that time and I am able to help support the fundraising efforts of my teammates with the proceeds of the tournament.

This year, even though we weren’t walking, I wanted to honor my commitment to raise at least $2,300 so we decided to go ahead and have the tournament, though it was delayed until November 14 and modified to conform to COVID regulations: no dinner, no silent auction, no congregating. We just had raffle prizes so I was thinking we wouldn’t do that well, but amazingly enough we had a huge response! I was able to get all that tabulated and logged in to my fundraising account just in time for the fundraising challenge!

What are your top three fundraising tips for other 3-Day participants?
My top three fundraising tips are:

Keep asking your donors. I send out a note once a month starting in May.
Don’t be afraid of doing a big fundraising event. It can really pay off!
Engage teammates or walking partners, family members, friends, co-workers to help with ideas and execution of your fundraiser.

Thank you for sharing your fundraising tactics with us, Lucy! Your amazingly successful fundraising events are inspiring. Even in a pandemic—you are still making it happen.