Komen Race for the Cure is set for May 15

The Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure will be held at the Essex County South Mountain Recreation Complex in West Orange on May 15.

The annual fundraising event, which has moved to West Orange from Newark, includes a 5k walk/run, as well as ceremonies and services for breast cancer survivors, a kids’ area with arts and crafts, and entertainment.

At last year’s event, which was held at Branch Brook Park in Newark, more than 9,000 people participated and $1.4 million was raised for breast cancer services and research.

Among the notables scheduled to be on hand for the day are NBC “Today” co-host Hoda Kotb, Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. and Essex County Sheriff Armando B. Fontoura.

Kotb documented her own battle against breast cancer on the “Today” show in 2007, and is serving as the honorary chair of the North Jersey event.

But the celebrities aren’t the focus of the race.

“The highlight of the day is definitely our survivors,” said Kathi Edelson Wolder, one of the volunteers on the race’s leadership team organizing the event.

Wolder, like many Komen volunteers, has had a personal experience with the illness; she is a 16-year, two-time breast cancer survivor.  The organizers are expecting more than 10,000 participants at this year’s event, according to Wolder, and usually 10 percent of the participants are survivors.  

At last year’s event, Maureen Glennon had just finished chemo treatment for cancer the previous month. “I was a five-month survivor. I was still bald,” she recalls. Yet she felt inspired not only to participate in the walk, but also to become a team leader and bring friends and family along with her.

 The high point of the day for her was standing on the podium with other survivors at a special ceremony at the end of the race. Glennon turned to the two women next to her, and each asked how long the others had survived the illness.

One said she was a 10-year survivor, while the other explained she was a five-year survivor. “When I told them I was just a five-month survivor, we all started crying and hugging. That has been the most amazing thing about (the Komen event) – all the love and support, “ Glennon says.

Last year, the West Caldwell resident brought a team of 20 friends and family members with her and they raised more than $7,000. This year she hopes to double that.

Glennon, 43, a professional dancer, choreographer and dance teacher, named her fundraising group Team moe-tion, after her dance troupe, moe-tion dance theater. The troupe includes many of Glennon’s former students.

The race/walk is the major fundraising event for the Komen North Jersey organization, which serves a nine-county area covering Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union and Warren counties and is based in Summit.

Of the funds raised by the North Jersey affiliate, 25 percent are awarded to the national Komen organization, which provides direct grants for breast cancer research, while the remaining 75 percent is distributed locally for services related to breast cancer prevention and treatment. The services can range from everything to providing mammograms to underinsured and uninsured women, to proving nonmedical emergency aid for things like transportation to doctors’ offices.

“Early detection is sort of our mantra,” said Wolder. The grants funded last year included a program to promote early detection among Chinese women in North Jersey and an education and outreach program to underserved African-American and Hispanic women in Essex, Hudson and Bergen counties.

According to the organization, since its founding in 1997, the North Jersey affiliate has awarded more than $12.2 million in local community grants, and has directed approximately $5.4 million to the national program for breast cancer research.

On May 15, the participants will continue the tradition of walking – or running – against the effects of this disease.

For those like Maureen Glennon, becoming part of this movement may be the most surprising part of having cancer.

“I have never done anything like this,” says Glennon about her experience as a fundraiser and volunteer.  But she sees this work as part of her “cancer journey,” which she says has inspired her as a dancer and choreographer and has changed her experience as a teacher. “I keep saying to everyone that everything happens for a reason. I feel a need to give back, and that’s what this race is all about.”

To register, volunteer or donate to the Komen North Jersey Race for the Cure, go tokomennorthjersey.org/race, or call (908) 277-2904, ext. 14.