A Humboldt sixth-grade teacher is wrapping up an 85-mile walk today to raise awareness for cancer. Carolyn Ford was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Ford’s been cancer-free for ten years.
To commemorate the anniversary, she decided to walk from rural Dakota City to her doctor’s appointment at 3 P.M. today at the Mercy Cancer Center in Mason City. Ford says she got the idea this past winter. She says when she hit the 10-year cancer-free mark, she started thinking of ways to recognize the anniversary and do something similar to the Susan Komen walk, and got the idea of walking to her appointment to raise awareness and funds for her county’s Relay for Life event.
The Komen for the Cure organization launched the global breast cancer movement in 1982 and has included several events in the last quarter century. Ford says those events inspired her to make the walk.
She says she originally thought about just walking from Clear Lake to Mason City on the day of her appointment, but then thought about walking the entire distance over a several-day span. Ford says the fight against breast cancer has improved greatly in the last decade.
Ford will walk on Cerro Gordo County Road B-35 from Clear Lake to Mason City before heading into town for her appointment at 3 o’clock this afternoon. Anyone wishing to make a donation on her behalf can send it to: Bank Iowa, 506 Summer Avenue, Humboldt, IA 50548.