POINT PLEASANT BEACH — A wave of pink descended upon Point Pleasant Beach on Sunday morning, when the borough’s annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk took place, presented by Jersey Mike’s Subs.
Stepping off down Arnold Avenue toward Ocean Avenue, the walk, which is the largest of its kind in the state, took striders around the eastern portion of Point Beach on a brisk Sunday morning stroll both in honor of survivors of breast cancer and in memory of those who did not survive. As the walkers began their stroll, cheerleaders and people from all over the region stood by and applauded them, as well as the survivors and those on whose behalf they walked.
“This is our 29th year,” said Amanda Barrett, director of development at the American Cancer Society [ACS]. “I started [with Making Strides] as a survivor in 2007 but as staff I’ve been working here for 10 years.”
Ms. Barrett is herself a survivor of the disease. She is one of the organizers of the Point Beach Making Strides event, and told The Ocean Star about her experience with breast cancer.
“I was 29 and I found a lump that had turned out to be stage one breast cancer,” she said. “I got very involved in the American Cancer Society; I started a team, I started fundraising. They were very supportive. When it was time for me to go back to work, an opportunity presented itself so I could kind of go back full circle.”
“[The ACS] is just a part of my heart now,” she said of her experience as a survivor in the society’s community. “It’s in everything I do and it’s why it’s OK to wake up at 3:30 in the morning and come do events like this. Both my children were raised with these events; my daughter is here volunteering today.”
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