With the rise of COVID-19 cases and the surge caused by the Delta variant, Prisma Health Midlands Foundation is moving the 31st Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon +5K fully virtual. There will be no in-person walk or races originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23, at Segra Park in Columbia.
“We had hoped walkers and runners could be in person on Oct. 23, but with the latest COVID-19 concerns and alarming patient numbers in our community, it’s best that we move to 100 percent virtual,” said Kristin Hudson, event director. “What matters most is the health and safety of our participants. We’re standing with Prisma Health and doing our part to help slow the spread of the virus in our community.”
Going fully virtual means participants can register and plan to walk or run in their favorite places, on their own time, anytime in Oct. Registration includes a shirt (unisex). Half marathon registrants will receive a finisher’s medal. Registered breast cancer survivors will be honored with a survivor’s bandana. When registering, participants will choose local pickup or an option to have a shirt and other items mailed.
“The kindness, generosity and support we have felt from walkers, runners, sponsors and other supporters is a reflection of their commitment to helping us fight breast cancer in our community,” said Hudson. “For more than three decades, they have helped us honor and remember so many who have been affected by breast cancer and raise funds for the latest technology, programs and services for patients and families.”
The 31st Walk for Life is presented by Dominion Energy. The Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon is presented by Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation. Registration for the virtual events is open now through Oct. 31 at WalkForLifeColumbia.org. Registration fees are donations that will help fund a 10th 3D mammography unit for Prisma Health Breast Center in the Midlands. Proceeds also will continue to fund post-mastectomy camisoles, post-surgery breast bears and support materials for patients and families.
For the latest information and to register, visit WalkForLifeColumbia.org.
Walk for Life
A Reflection on the 30th Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon, 5K + 10K
It’s hard for me to adequately put in to words that feeling of seeing what has long been described as “the sea of pink” on the morning of Walk for Life. Thousands of men and women, along with their children, joining together in unity against breast cancer – it moves me more and more each year.
My first Walk for Life was as a participant in celebration of my mom’s 5-year cancerversary. It was several years later when I joined the team at Prisma Health Midlands Foundation (then Palmetto Health Foundation) and was able to work on the event for the first time.
I still remember when I learned that the first Walk for Life I would be working on we would be working to raise funds for our first 3D digital mammography machine for our breast center. My mom’s breast cancer – stage 3B lobular – would have been detected much sooner had 3D digital mammography been available at that time. With this new, advanced equipment in our community I knew that we were moving in the right direction. And I felt this each year as we came together to raise money for a new machine – eventually raising enough money to purchase a ninth 3D digital mammography machine, effectively making 3D mammography systemwide at Prisma Health.
As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I know firsthand the impact that a diagnosis can have on a family. As the mother of two girls, I know how important it is to constantly seek out the best equipment for treatment and prevention of breast cancer. These important details are why we do what we do, and why we look forward to connecting with each of our walkers and runners throughout the year, and especially each day throughout the month of October.
In 2020, we made the decision to turn our walk and run in to a virtual event, one in which the sea of pink would instead become more like ripples across our community as family and friends would gather in small groups but still, together, support our common cause. It created new challenges, but each day, through the connections we made in our participant facebook groups and through the hashtag #Pink4Prisma, we soon realized that we were really all in this together even in this year of change.
It’s fitting to know that those who have been affected by breast cancer are this adaptable. With the help of so many of you – from 31 states and 3 countries to be exact – we were able to accomplish great things once again this year. With more than $326,000 raised for Prisma Health Breast Center, I am overwhelmed with how much support we continue to see for this event and this cause year after year. We are so thankful for each and every participant and feel a sense of connection with each t-shirt we hand out, because we know how much every individual step helps us reach the ultimate distance.
A special thanks goes to this year’s top teams:
Pink Posse Philes
Wildewood/Woodcreek Warriors
Pine Grove Community Pacesetters
Drive on for Jill
St. John Neumann School
AllSouth Crusaders for the Cure
Lizard’s Thicket
Friends4Dawn
Amy and Rhonda’s Army
YO LADY!!!!
Donate to Breast CenterWalkers and Runners Across The Country Go #PinkForPrisma For The 30th Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon
Columbia, S.C.— More than 2,450 registered walkers and runners across South Carolina, 30 additional states and three countries helped Prisma Health Midlands Foundation kick breast cancer to the curb for the Virtual 30th Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon. More than $295,000, including in-kind donations, was raised for Prisma Health Breast Center.
“Runners and walkers in our community and across the country have inspired me! Although we weren’t physically together this year, I could feel their commitment to the fight against breast cancer,” said Dawn Hunt, chair, 2020 Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon and team captain for the Friends4Dawn team.
Registrants, including 209 breast cancer survivors, walked on the beach, ran in the mountains, rode pink bikes and gathered their family and friends in their local neighborhoods and parks.
“It’s been fun to see how walkers and runners across the country and beyond made our virtual event their own. We’ve seen incredible creativity and enthusiasm. We could feel their energy the entire month of October,” said Kristin Hudson, Walk for Life and Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon event director at Prisma Health Midlands Foundation. “October may be over, but our fight against breast cancer continues.”
Donations to Prisma Health Breast Center may be made at WalkForLifeColumbia.org.
When 200 people took steps against breast cancer at the first Walk for Life in Columbia, S.C. 30 years ago, it became a springboard to one of the largest fundraising events of its kind in the Southeast. More than $11 million has been raised over three decades for the Breast Center. Proceeds from the 2020 virtual event benefit the growth and expansion of Prisma Health Breast Center, where more than 40,000 mammograms are performed each year. Proceeds also will continue to fund post-mastectomy camisoles, post-surgery breast bears and support materials for patients and families.
The 30th Walk for Life was presented by Dominion Energy. The Famously Hot Pink Half Marathon was presented by Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
About Prisma Health Breast Center
As the largest provider of screening and diagnostic breast imaging services in our community, Prisma Health Breast Center is critical to the health of women and men in our community. An average of 40,000 mammograms are performed each year at the Breast Center. It was the first program in South Carolina to be fully accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, administered by the American College of Surgeons, which ensures that patients will have access to comprehensive care, an interdisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best treatment options, breast cancer conferences, nurse navigators, information about ongoing clinical trials and quality breast care close to home. The Breast Center also provided the first mobile mammography unit in South Carolina in 1988.
About Prisma Health Midlands Foundation
Prisma Health Midlands Foundation’s mission is to engage community partners to enhance health care for patients and families served by Prisma Health—Midlands. For more information, visit PrismaHealthMidlandsFoundation.org or call 803-434-7275.