Cancer survivors, left to right: Corine Sturdivant, Sandy Jessop and Lee Rinke
SBR Komen for the Cure team
Marlene Diskin
Ranch resident Sandy Jessop has a very personal reason to support the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. She is a 14-year breast cancer survivor and 11-year uterine cancer survivor. She started volunteering for the Komen Detroit Race for the Cure in 2003, became the team’s co-chair and helped grow the team to approximately 17,000 members each year. “Knowing what an impact the Race has within its local area, I wanted to continue our efforts when Bo and I moved to Arizona,” Sandy said.
March 6 marked the first time the SBR team participated in the Tucson Race. In a great first effort 28 SBR residents joined the team. They were Carol Andrews, Tom Andrews, Tooti Congdon, Marlene Diskin, Lynn Fidler, Patrick Hendricks, Stephanie Hendricks, Sandy Jessop, Bo Jessop, Cathy Kauffman, Gail Latimer, Jackie Levitt, Ruth Martinez, Lynn Newton, Kim Newton, Chip Parfet, Tim Pooler, Brenda Pooler, Doug Rinke, Lee Rinke, Martha Sampson, Jamie Samson, Gwenn Sobel, Helga Stone, Corine Sturdivant, Sherry Weiss and Margaret Yonkovich.
On the day of the Race Sandy was joined by fellow survivors Lee Rinke and Corine Sturdivant to celebrate their survivorship and were supported by 18 other team members for the three-mile walk. “What an amazing and positive experience with such a wonderful and supportive group of neighbors! We can’t wait to do this again next year and grow the team,” Sandy said.
Sandy also started the SBR Cancer Support Group that meets on the first Tuesday of each month at La Hacienda Clubhouse at 6:30-8:30 p.m. The combined survivor and co-survivor support group meets 6:30-7:30, after which two separate groups meet, one for survivors only and the other targeting co-survivors who may be friends or family members of a survivor. The purpose of the group is for survivors and co-survivors to share experiences, feelings and issues associated with living with cancer, either now or in the past. The group can also help participants become more informed about cancer-related topics such as treatment options, side effects, exercise and nutrition, relationships and life after cancer.
“As founder of the SBR Cancer Support Group, I encourage residents to support other cancer walks. We hope to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night walk in October,” Sandy concluded.
For more information please contact Sandy Jessop at [email protected] or 248-788-2285.