116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Time Machine: Especially For You
Race/walk has helped 15,000 in past 35 years
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The American Cancer Society began focusing on breast cancer in 1985, choosing October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Four years later, in August 1989, Sandy Knight of Cedar Rapids had a biopsy that revealed she had breast cancer. First steps were a mastectomy, then chemotherapy. Knight had no family history of the disease.
“I had just turned 37,” she said in a June 1991 Gazette interview. “The reason I had never done breast self-examination or had a mammogram was that it never occurred to me that it would happen to me.”
After treatment, her cancer went into remission, and Knight worked to promote early detection of breast cancer, beginning at her workplace, General Mills. She was a charter member of the Especially for You organization and helped produce a video to promote breast cancer awareness.
Then, in November 1990, Knight’s cancer metastasized, meaning it spread to other parts of her body. She died July 6, 1991, at age 39.
On Oct. 27, 1991, the first Especially for Your Women’s Race Against Breast Cancer 5K Run-Walk, spearheaded by Knight’s sister, Cindy Young, set out from Mercy Medical Center. The race was dedicated to Knight.
General Mills and Mercy Medical Center underwrote the cost of the event, allowing proceeds from race entry fees to go toward providing mammograms for women who couldn’t afford them. A mammogram cost around $80 to $85 that year.
The inaugural race drew more than 1,100 women, raising $16,000.
How it grew
The race on Oct. 11, 1992, started and finished at Mercy Medical Center. It featured an appearance by Marie Masters, who played breast cancer survivor Dr. Susan Stewart on the “As the World Turns” soap opera.
The event grew.
In 2022, more than 15,000 people participated in the Especially for You race/walk. In 2023, 16,546 people raced or walked, raising more than $531,000.
Last year’s race, Oct. 6, 2024, drew a record 16,677 participants. The $529,046 raised in registrations helped provide mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies, screenings and services for people in need.
To date, more than 15,000 people have been helped, with more than 45,000 services provided.
35th anniversary
The Especially for You race, the 35th, will be Sunday, Oct. 5.
The purpose of the race is to provide funding for patients in need of breast and gynecological cancer screenings in Cedar Rapids and the surrounding counties. The money raised also promotes early detection to catch cancer in its early stages. This year, the organization has provided more than $500,000 in assistance.
This year’s race is projected to set another registration record. Registration fees range from $22 to $40.
The event kicks off Thursday with the Pink Pint Party at Big Grove Brewery. The brewery has created a special pink brew and provided appetizers and live music. Proceeds from the silent auction at the Pink Pint Party will go to the Especially for You fund.
Also on Thursday, the Hall-Perrine Cancer Center at Mercy and the downtown Alliant Tower will be illuminated pink. Mercy is hosting the Power of Pink celebration that evening where participants can pick up race packets. The evening will include music, refreshments and people speaking about the importance of Especially for You in their lives. The evening is to conclude with fireworks, weather permitting.
The Especially for You run/walk begins at 8 a.m. Sunday. As it did in 1991, it will start and end at Mercy Medical Center, 701 10th St. SE.
The route winds through downtown Cedar Rapids, crossing the Cedar River into the southwest quadrant before returning to the hospital.
Participants can enjoy food trucks and children’s activities afterward. They also can see the world’s largest inflatable breast cancer awareness ribbon, which was designed, constructed and donated by Dr. Dan and Jeanie Yeager. The Yeagers also built many of the inflatables used along the race course as well as the indoor holes that are used at Especially for You’s Putt for the Purpose, held in the Hall-Perrine Cancer Center in April.
Tricia Langton-Andersen, daughter of the author, contributed. She works at Mercy Medical Center and volunteers at the Especially for You race.
Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com
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