Cancer survivor misses Komen Race for the Cure
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — For the fire time in its history, Komen Columbus will not hold its annual event in May because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organization still plans to celebrate a day that has become special to so many. Linda Lucas has been participating in Komen Race for the Cure since her life changed forever.
“You are living your life. Everything is just fine and it stops you in your tracks.”
1995 was that life-altering year for Lucas who was a 44-year-old mother of three.
“It’s like this happens to other people, not to you. It did. To this day I can’t believe that it happened to me, but it did. It was a very small lesion it was not easily felt.”
A small lump was caught by her mammogram. “We both looked at the mammogram and he looked at me and said, ‘I think it’s just aging changes,’ but then they biopsied it and it was not just aging changes, it was breast cancer.”
It was invasive breast cancer at the time. While trying to keep her kids lives as normal as possible, Lucas began treatment and was introduced to Komen Race for the Cure where she became a volunteer.
“Then they were working in a tiny office in the American Cancer Society which at that time was located on Michigan Avenue.”
The next year she walked in her first race, not as a breast cancer patient, but as a survivor.
“I remember distinctly on May 1st that is when they turned the Leveque Tower pink was that year, 1996. That was my final day of radiation treatments.”
She’s only missed one race since, and it just so happened to be the year the cancer came back in 2012. Once again, she beat it, “I’ve been really good since 2013.”
Lucas wants to remind both women and men of all ages to know their bodies and to get regular screenings.
She put off her mammogram about 18 months the first time she was diagnosed.
“My father had just passed away and my father in law passed away. These kinds of events were taking priority.”
Today, she’s grateful for the clinical trial she went through at the James and for Komen Columbus.
“I have captained teams and I enjoy the event very much. It’s a very big celebration type of event.”
She can’t wait for the celebration to happen once again when it is safe to do it.