Make a Difference in Breast Cancer Research

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Today is National Trivia Day, and we are taking this opportunity to share important and impactful facts from the 3-Day and our Susan G. Komen family at large. You can use these facts in your own 3-Day trivia game, as part of your fundraising letters, or as encouragement for you and your team this year. We have come so far since 2003, and every step you have taken has made a difference.

You can continue to make a difference in 2018, too! Register now, and get $20 off your registration through February 5th!

One amazing fact is that in the last 12 years, Komen has been able to put 80 cents of every dollar directly into research, community health programs, as well as education and advocacy programs. This money supports the mission to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research.

This means that every donation makes a huge impact. Some stats to know and share:

$25 could buy research supplies so scientists can work toward finding the cures
$30 could provide an hour of patient navigation services for someone with breast cancer
$135 could provide one screening mammogram for someone in need

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The sixty miles you walk also make a huge difference! Since 2003, the 3-Day has:

Raised more than $820 million in total
Helped support more than 2,500 research projects & 460 clinical trials and counting
Sent $650 million in funds raised directly to breast cancer research

In addition, Komen’s network of Affiliates fund nearly 1,000 community organizations providing education, screening, patient navigation and treatment assistance to those facing breast cancer each year. You might have seen some of these local Affiliates at cheering stations on 3-Days this year. If you see them in 2018, give them a hug and a high five to thank them for all the amazing hard work they do!

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Because of the hard work that Komen, the 3-Day and all our Affiliates do, there has been a 38 percent decline in breast cancer mortality (deaths) in the U.S. between 1989-2014.

This means that there are more and more survivors for us to honor each year at the 3-Day. In fact, there are more than 3.1 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.

Each of these facts are important, and all of them work towards Komen’s Bold Goal of reducing the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50% in the U.S. by 2026.

To learn even more, visit our website for infographics, personal stories and more!

The 3-Day, in the words of walker Alisen D.

Often, we take for granted the steps we take in our daily lives. The mundane one foot in front of the other. Unless, of course, you are a 3-Dayer.

Then your world, and those steps you take on a pink path, have a whole different meaning.

The ground beneath your feet become an anthem… a promise… a yearly reminder of why thousands of men and women (and children) join together across the nation in unity, in a vast sea of pink.

My name is Alisen Dupre and I made a promise back in 2002 to my mother, Pam Morris, when I signed up for my very first 3-Day event. My mom was diagnosed in 1997 with breast cancer at the age of 53. She had her mastectomy, chemotherapy and reconstruction all within a year.

At the young age of 22, I was by her side and was her caregiver, (what later would be called a “co-survivor”) and saw firsthand what the disease would do to her body and her spirit. Through it all we stood strong and weathered the storm together.

A year later I moved cross country from Pennsylvania, where she lived, to California. Fast forward to February 2011. I had already walked the 3-Day seven times in California (in Los Angles & San Diego), four times in Philadelphia, once in Tampa, once in Washington, D.C. and had been a Crew Member for Camp Logistics in San Diego (2007 & 2009). I was also a part of the Nationwide Mentor program, not to mention being a walker stalker twice as well. It is a joyous time in my life, as I was three months pregnant with my son Chase!

However, life is a very delicate balancing act, and it was about to throw something my way. I got the phone call that every person dreads. My mom called me and told me that the cancer had returned. The breast cancer gene mutated and metastasized into ovarian cancer. Stage 4. Honestly, I didn’t hear much after the word “terminal”. I was able to be with my mom on two visits back East and she saw me in all my pregnant glory and felt Chase move around in my swollen belly up until my eight month. My due date was July 31st, and she lost her courageous fight July 25^th. Chase arrived later than expected on August 9th. Dealing with life and death at the same time was the most humbling experience of my life.

Chase is a very special kid even now. After his birth in 2011, I walked San Diego that year with him on the route, making his walker stalker debut. He was only 4 months old. He was then known as “The Boobie Baby.” I created a special hat for him and ever since then he has been on route cheering the walkers on. He has since outgrown that little hat and has become “The TaTa Toddler.”

In 2013, I was given the extreme honor of being able to carry the “Mother” flag in San Diego, and spoke at Opening Ceremonies about why I walk. I walk so that children and grandchildren may experience life’s wonderful moments with their loved ones.

At Closing, Chase, The TaTa Toddler, was wearing a shirt I made him that read, “You Walk for The NaNa I Never Knew… Thank You” He was on stage with me in front of all the walkers, crew, family and friends, and was dancing as if it was the greatest day ever. And it WAS.

I’ve since walked in a hurricane in Philly in 2015, which was my most challenging year, but was also the most awesome event as it was my homecoming homage to my mother.

Every year Chase and I return to cheer on his beloved, “Pink Ribbon Boobie Walkers” (as he lovingly calls all the walkers). He now once again has outgrown his TaTa Toddler name and hat, and is now known as “The Boobie Boy.” He looks forward each year to going to San Diego to high five, cheer, ring his cow bell, pass out stickers, hug his friends and live in the Pink Bubble that we all have come to love so much.

This year there was a new twist to our stalker trip. One that touched me to my very core. Chase wanted to go into the Remembrance Tent and write a message to Grandma Pam. He told me he wanted to keep his message short and put it in a heart. He asked me for some spelling help and then he was done. In a big heart, in the lower left-hand corner of the tent: Chase Loves Pam.

Then he did something that neither I nor anyone within earshot I think will ever forget. He knows I carry my mom’s small urn of ashes with me on event. It’s silver with a small pink ribbon etched into the middle. “Mom, may I please have Grandma Pam’s Ashes?”

When I asked him why, he said, “I’d like to pray.”

And there he sat, with the sunlight shining behind him, holding her ashes, with eyes closed in silence. Having a moment.

This is why I walk. This is why I cannot walk away. My son and I will always be there stalking, even if I am not walking. But I, for one, will never take for granted the steps that any one of my fellow pink friends take. That is why we cheer you on all three days! The Pink Community surrounded my family in so much support during the transitional period between my mother’s passing, my son’s birth, and beyond! How could we not repay you in kind? We just love you THAT MUCH!!!

We love you with all our hearts.

Alisen Dupre and Chase aka “Boobie Boy” Dupre