Delta College event hopes to make strides in breast cancer research

Few people like to admit they're getting older. But when you're living with a diagnosis of breast cancer, any reservations about aging fly out the window.

A new event coming to Stockton this fall has adopted the lofty goal of creating a world with less breast cancer and more birthdays.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, coming to San Joaquin Delta College at 9 a.m. Oct. 1, is a three- to five-mile noncompetitive walk that organizers say is "as unique and special as the story that motivates you."

It's for breast cancer survivors, those who want to honor a cancer survivor and those who want to remember someone lost to cancer. It also serves as a vehicle to raise funds to support breast cancer research.

Between 1990 and 2009, 1,438 women in San Joaquin County lost their lives to breast cancer, according to the California Cancer Registry. That's an average of just under 72 women per year, and that number has held pretty steady. The good news is the county's female at-risk population grew by almost 100,000 women during those same 20 years, knocking the mortality rate down from 31 deaths per 100,000 women in 1990 to 23 deaths per 100,000 women in 2009.

Much of that can be attributed to advances in breast cancer detection, medications and treatment, but also to greater awareness among vulnerable populations.

"Bringing Making Strides to Stockton is very important, because this event will bring less cancer, which means more birthdays. And the American Cancer Society is helping breast cancer patients locally by providing direct patient services," said Sandy Stoddard, community services director for the Cancer Society's Stockton field office.

Stoddard said the longer a woman with breast cancer lives, "By creating more birthdays, there are new treatments coming out. That is our hope, that again we will be able to give that hope to more women. There are more new drugs on the horizon to extend more lives and decrease those mortality rates."

Stoddard encouraged those interested in participating in Making Strides to get involved as soon as possible by signing up online at makingstrides.acsevents.org. Information: (209) 941-2679 or (800) 227-2345 or makingstridesstockton@cancer.org.

Contact reporter Joe Goldeen at (209) 546-8278 or jgoldeen@recordnet.com. Visit his blog at recordnet.com/goldeenblog.