Pink Lady Walk to take place this weekend

Published 1:00 pm Thursday, October 12, 2023

The 10th annual Pink Lady Walk event at Big Spring Park on Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023. This is the second year that a 5K run and walk accompanies the usual festivities.

“Your participation sends a powerful message of hope and support to those who are in the fight,” Deshanda Bailey with Pink Lady Walk said.

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The Pink Lady Walk’s mission is to help alleviate some of the financial burdens caused by breast cancer. They have raised funds for 16 breast cancer survivors as well as one child with cancer, Hospice of Limestone County, and the Patient Assistance Fund at the Southern Cancer Center since the event began in 2014.

“This is my passion,” said founder and two-time breast cancer survivor Sharon Carter.

Carter said after her second diagnosis in 2012 she had been attending a support group for breast cancer survivors, which was good for a little while, but she knew it was time to think bigger.

“I was like ‘I’ve got to do something else.’ … It was like ‘How many times can I tell my same story to the same people,’” Carter said.

Carter grew up in Athens and got her associate’s degree at Calhoun Community College and her bachelor’s at Athens State. She also has a master’s degree and has worked in higher education for 20 years, and at Calhoun for 10.

“When I started doing the Pink Lady Walk, I didn’t know how it was going to take off or how it was going to be received, especially in your own hometown among your own people,” she said. “My thing is just getting the people to be aware of breast cancer, especially in the black community. Although we are not the ones with the most diagnoses, we are the ones with the highest mortality rate,” she said.

Online registration for this year’s Pink Lady Walk is $25 and will be turned off Friday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. Same-day registration will be online from 12 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. and cost $35.

The event starts at 8 a.m. at Big Spring Memorial Park (Duck Pond) in Athens. For more information or to register for the event, visit https://runsignup.com/Race/AL/Athens/PinkLadyWalk, email pinkladywalk@gmail.com, or contact them through Facebook @Pink Lady Walk.