Pink and proud

October 28, 2010 - 7:19 PM by

My wife Jody and I ran today in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the first time this event – which is held around the world – has taken place in Israel. Several thousand Israelis – with a large Anglo contingent – convened in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park amid a festive atmosphere for a serious cause.

When her sister Susan Komen died of breast cancer in 1980, Nancy Brinker pledged to do everything in her power to find a cure for the disease, which afflicts some 4,000 Israeli women and men a year and accounts for 30% of all new cancer cases in the country.

The Komen foundation has invested nearly $1.5 billion since 1982, including over $2 million to Israeli research facilities such as Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem and the Weizman Institute of Science.

The staging ground was packed, with nearly everyone wearing a Komen t-shirt in National Breast Cancer Awareness Month pink. It was a true cross-section of Israeli society – in addition to the aforementioned Anglos, there was a large contingent of teenage yeshiva girls (planning to run, apparently, in their blue jeans shirts), older cancer survivors and even a group of Israeli Arabs.

The weather, unfortunately, didn’t cooperate. All week had been pleasant; the day of the race (which began at noon), temperatures shot up into the mid-30s (well into the 90s Fahrenheit).

The race itself was less a competition than a casual stroll through downtown Jerusalem, ending up just outside the Old City across from the Cinemateque. A few intrepid runners – less than 100 out of the total, Jody and I included – pushed our way to the front of the throng and sprinted most of the mild 3.8 kilometer route (the majority of us finished in well under 20 minutes, a pale imitation of the Jerusalem 10K we ran earlier this year).

But no matter: the race wasn’t the point. It was the cause and for that the Susan Komen organizers – and all those Israelis who participated – should feel pink and proud.

Tags: , , • Category: health 

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One Comment on Pink and proud

  1. 1 in nine | ISRAELITY on Thu, Dec 2nd 2010 12:02 PM

    2. [...] The process is easy: Contact the One in Nine facilitator, Maya Ohana, who will connect you with an English or Hebrew-speaking facilitator in your area. Invite your women — not too many, because you want to have enough time to pass around the ‘breasts’ and ask and answer questions. It costs NIS 600 per workshop, and people can be asked to pay a fee or some prefer to sponsor the evening in memory of a loved one who died from breast cancer. [...]

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