As Breast Cancer Awareness Month continues, MemorialCare will host its 26th Annual Team Spirit Long Beach Cancer 5K this Saturday from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. to support psychosocial programs and services for adult cancer patients, survivors and their families.
Dressed in pink, purple, blue and a variety of colorful shirts, hundreds will run along Granada Beach (1 Granada Ave.) to show their support.
Dr. Mariusz Wirga has worked with MemorialCare for 22 years and served as the medical director for the PsychoSocial Oncology program at the Todd Cancer Institute at Long Beach Medical Center since 2004.
Dr. Wirga said the 5K started as a fundraiser, which has helped hire social workers and expand access to psychosocial programs such as Women Guiding Women: Cancer Support and Education Program, Beat the Odds in Cancer Treatment program and a two-hour advanced survivorship program called Boost the Odds.
“I have been in that position since 2009 and it became clear that it is not just a fundraiser,” Dr. Wirga explains. “I walk with my patients, their families and friends [walked the Memorial 5K for 16 years], so it’s a social event, a community event, [and] it creates a lot of emotion and support, tears of joy.”
Dr. Wirga said the cancer 5K brings people together as “one and united,” creating connection and purpose in the face of illness. The fundraiser has raised $4 million over 25 years, according to the medical director.
“It’s very important [that the 5K happens yearly] because cancer treatment is very expensive and some people are underinsured or very well insured; people face unexpectedly high co-pays and [the 5K is] a way to help these patients,” he said.
The Team Spirit 5K also helps inform people about screening programs by offering free medical screenings during the event.
One of hundreds of participants Saturday is Stacy Byone, a nurse practitioner at MemorialCare for 22 years, who has attended the annual cancer 5K’s for more than 20 years. Byone found out she was diagnosed with cancer after doing her annual mammogram screening in April last year.
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She decided to have her treatment at Memorial Care Cancer Center in Long Beach.
“I had no second thoughts on where I wanted to get my treatment because I’ve been in this cancer center as long as I had and I know that the staff, all the way down to the physicians, are all people who go above and beyond,” Byone said. “I knew I didn’t have to travel anywhere else, that I could stay here with the people that I love and trusted for my treatment.”
After undergoing surgeries and radiation, Byone was announced cancer-free. She said she is on adjuvant treatment for the next four years, which is post-surgical care to ensure the cancer doesn’t return.
Byone said the 5K helps fund multiple services that were important throughout her journey.
“This walk provides so many services for things that are not captured by medical insurance and things that might not be attainable [for those] who don’t have a level of social support say that some of us do have, and it ranges anywhere from the emotional support, the psychosocial support, but also the financial support,” she said.
Byone also spoke about the back-and-forth trips she had to make when she was going through breast cancer and how the Spirit 5K can support patients who take public transportation or rely on people to bring them to the center.
She also discussed how the 5K funds social programs that help with meals or donate new or gently used clothes to Marti’s Closet (which provides cancer surgery patients with complimentary button-down blouses and adaptive clothing).
“This is a great resource where we’re always able to fortunately have the funds [from] this [the 5K] go straight to patients without any sort of middleman, [that] directly benefits patients,” she said.
Byone stressed the importance of having the Memorial 5K and annual mammograms, since 1 in 8 women in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.
“You talk to many women [and they say], ‘Yeah, yeah, I haven’t called. I need to call. I missed it last year,’ and so it’s a time where people are hearing it from other people or seeing the pink ribbons,” she said. “[It] just puts people in the mindset of, ‘This is really important.’”
Members of the public can show their support in a variety of ways:
- Register and sign up to walk
- Donate to fund free psychosocial and support services for patients and their families
- Offer time to help organize the event on-site
“It’s very important [that people show their support], even if it’s $5; that can make a difference for a gas card or a grocery card. If 100 people gave $5, that’s quite significant,” Byone said. “If you’re in the Long Beach area and you’re free on that Saturday, even if it’s just for an hour, come on down. There’s lots of activity going on, lots of happy stories, lots of patients and providers go, and it’s a celebration; a celebration of life and helping those through this journey.”
For more information about the 5K, volunteering or donating, visit the MemorialCare website.
