Breast Cancer Awareness: Marion Residents Among Thousands at Especially for You Race in Cedar Rapids

Thousands of people packed into downtown Cedar Rapids for the Especially for You Race to support the fight against breast cancer.

Among the 15,000 or so people on Sunday was Karen Froelich, of Marion, KWWL reports.

"I wouldn't have been able to probably survive without a mammogram," Froelich told the station.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Patch is highlighting the local events, activities, people and programs doing their best to support the cause.

An estimated 226,870 women and 2,190 men will get diagnosed breast cancer in 2012, and 39,510 women and 410 men will die from the disease this year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer behind prostate cancer, and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths behind lung cancer, according to the institute.

Scheduling mammograms, which can detect the disease, is one of the first steps in raising awareness about breast cancer. The disease is preventable if detected early.

This weekend marked the 22nd Especially for You Race, which began in 1991. 

Here is what the Gazette writes about how it came to be:

The race and the fund are dedicated to the memory of Sandy Knight, a Whittier resident and General Mills employee who died of breast cancer in July 1991. She helped organize Mercy’s Especially For You After Breast Cancer Support Group. Her dream was to establish a race to raise funds for breast cancer awareness and education.

The race raised $376,000 for the Especially for You fund, according to KWWL.

The race is co-founded by Mercy Medical Center and General Mills.