Participants left the American Legion at 10 a.m. and filed through the streets of Caribou in order to raise awareness about the dangers of breast cancer and to help generate the funds required for a proposed new mammography suite at Cary Medical Center.
The walk began on Sweden Street and moved across Main and High streets to Bennett Drive where a police cruiser escorted the fund-raisers from Skyway Plaza to their destination at Cary Medical Center. Inside the Maine Room of the hospital, a table dressed with pink napery and laden with refreshments awaited campaigners, courtesy of Cary Medical Center Nutritional Services Department. The walk, which has been chaired and organized by the Hospital Auxiliary since its inception, has donated approximately $200,000 toward its cause to date and shows no signs of slowing down.
Shawn Foster, president of the auxiliary, said the pledges this year totaled $19,944, nearly 30 percent of which was collected single-handedly by eight-walk veteran Nancy Morneault. Morneault began participating in the event in 2001 and has so far contributed a total of $53,622 to the movement in memory of her late husband, Paul, who succumbed to thyroid cancer fall of last year.
“As Auxiliary president I speak for all of the Auxiliary when I say how moved we are by the community’s support and enthusiasm when it comes to this very important cause. Be it a friend, a neighbor, a family member, or yourself … this disease affects us all. Every year we are thrilled with the dedication and commitment of our walkers and we say ‘thank you’ for making this effort so worthwhile,” said Foster.
Other top fund-raisers included Debbie Chabre, Bonnie Beaulieu, Alma Jackson, Linda Mazerolle, Regen Gallagher and Shawn LeFerrier. The Cary Medical Center Auxiliary, Colgan Air, The Caribou Inn and Convention Center, Apothecary Spa and Retreat, Freme’s Jewelry and Sleepers were among local businesses and organizations who donated prizes.
“Cancer is cancer,” said Morneault. “No matter if it isn’t breast. It’s still devastating.” After the cancer had metastasized, she said, Paul lost his ability to speak. “He’d shake,” she said. “He’d become sweaty and teary-eyed and very much in pain. Very much in pain in his head.”
Morneault recalls how their difficult time was succored through the kindness of strangers, whom she came to refer to as “Earth Angels.” She now dedicates her time giving back to the community that cared.
Morneault is not alone fighting the disease in remembrance of lost loved ones. Longtime campaigner Roz Mulherin’s parents were both taken by cancer, as well as her two sisters.
“The hardest part is just knowing the cancer came out,” she said while sitting in the bingo room of the Legion Hall during registration. “The horror. The look on their faces. My oldest sister fought it but the younger one just let it happen. She didn’t want to go through what my older sister went through. I guess that was the hardest part. The look in her eyes.” Now Mulherin walks annually, joined this year for the first time by her 2-year-old granddaughter, Abagayle.
The testimonies of Mulherin and Morneault, though tragic, are not uncommon, and the 200 strangers who gathered in Legion Hall Saturday morning walked united in hopes of preventing others from enduring such hardship. Those who have survived cancer acknowledge that the struggle has made them stronger for it.
“I’m better than I’ve ever been,” said Rachel Coyote, now in remission for four years.
Morneault agreed. “We certainly appreciate more,” she said. “Life is short. And if you don’t take time to enjoy your life, it will pass you by. It’ll pass you right by.”
