NEW YORK — Twenty-two years ago, CancerCare, a national organization

working with women who have breast cancer, founded National Breast Cancer

Awareness Month to promote early detection. This put women on the road to

annual mammography screenings, which have lowered mortality rates.
Since then, millions of lives have been saved and miles have been walked

and run in support of breast cancer research and awareness. This past

Mother’s Day weekend, another journey began.

When Lori Raimondo’s mother lost her long battle with breast cancer last

August, Raimondo lost someone who she both admired and loved. Today she

will begin driving from San Diego to New York to raise money for the

Breast Cancer Research Foundation. “I want to raise $9,490­­ — a dollar

for every day that my mother battled breast cancer,” Raimondo said. She

already has more than $3,500 in pledges.

Raimondo will seek opportunities along the way to participate in local

events that will raise funds. Her flexible route starts in San Diego,

heads to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Utah. She’ll then go back to San

Francisco, up through Oregon and Washington State, through Idaho, Montana,

the Dakotas and to Minnesota to visit a college friend who is battling

breast cancer. Raimondo will stop in her native Chicago and then head east

to Niagara Falls before returning home to New York City.

Her blog, roadtoacure.blogspot.com, which officially launched on Sunday,

will chronicle the trip and provide donors with several ways to support

her journey. Raimondo had initially hoped to keep costs down and to raise

more money by getting an automaker to donate a vehicle from the cross-

country trip. However, her proposals to BMW and Ford were not accepted

within the one-week time period she had set aside for pre-trip prep.

Instead, Raimondo will be traveling in a rental car for the duration of

her journey.

Although BMW and Ford will not be supporting Raimondo's effort with a

vehicle loan, both automakers have demoonstrated a committment to breast

cancer research. Ford has been a National Series Sponsor for 12 years with

the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Nationally, more than 50,000 Ford employees

have run or walked in races to support the cause. Thousands of Ford

dealers are also involved by participating in the Komen Race for the Cure

at local Race sites, raising $84 million. Ford’s umbrella for the cause

is Warriors in Pink, whose slogan is, “In every woman there is a

believer, a fighter, a survivor.” Symbols are printed on T-shirts,

scarves and bumper stickers to raise money and support women who are

battling the disease.


Postede by Kate McLeod
Source: http://search.msn.com

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