Pembroke – In the four years since Walk For Her began, $90,000 has been raised for the Pembroke Regional Hospital cancer program with $30,230.25 raised this year earmarked for a special piece of equipment.

“Who is her?” asked founder and organizer of Walk For Her Lana Gorr to a sea of pink at the Shady Nook Recreation Centre on Saturday morning. “Her is your reason. Her can be you. Her can be your mom, your sister, your cousin, your aunt, your neighbour, or a complete stranger. “Women, men, whoever you chose to walk for her. We walk for her.”

With a lofty goal set this year of raising $50,000 for a neoprobe for PRH, the walk on Saturday surpassed the halfway mark and then some. The piece of equipment was requested by the hospital since it can be used by the surgical team and diagnostic imaging team which identifies the status of sentinel lymph nodes, the first lymph nodes breast cancer will spread to.

“This will continue to be our goal until we achieve it,” Ms. Gorr said.

The Walk For Her started four years ago when her friend, Maria Kendrick, had breast cancer and they wanted to do something for the community. At that point there was no more Relay for Life in the county and this had been a successful fundraiser and opportunity for people to come together.

“Maria said to me, ‘I can’t run, but I can walk’,” she recalled, so they organized the first walk in six weeks and raised $13,000. “Sadly, six days after the event, Maria passed away.

“I continue to do this because we have to,” Ms. Gorr said.

Participants walk in a track on the field, participate in an online auction, participate in various activities including a photo booth, haircuts and massage and raise funds which will stay locally to help cancer patients. The importance of local services is very important and all the money raised stays local, she said. One of the important things about this cancer fundraiser is all the funds stay local, earmarked to the PRH cancer program or initiatives, she stressed.

The honourary survivor this year was Tracey McCallum of Beachburg. She was diagnosed in 2019 with Stage 1 breast cancer which was found on a mammogram. Her cancer is the second most common type of breast cancer out of 50 subtypes.

“It has to be treated differently,” she said.

Her treatment was successful and she just celebrated her fifth year of being cancer free.

“A lot of people figure breast cancer is hereditary,” she added. “85 percent is not hereditary.”

She has been very vocal about her cancer journey and telling people about the importance of screening. For women with dense breasts it is better to have an ultrasound, she added.

“You need to advocate for yourself and get that extra imaging,” she said.

“Do your self-examinations every month,” she said. “Get your mammograms done.

“It’s October, change your clocks, change your batteries and check your boobs.”

Leigh Costello, the PRH Foundation community fundraising specialist, said she is in awe of what has been accomplished by Walk For Her in four years.

“I want to say the biggest ‘thank you’ to the biggest heart that I know, Lana Gorr,” she added.

The challenge of $50,000 for the neoprobe is very ambitious, she noted, but it is an important piece of equipment which is needed.

“Your efforts today and for the last three years are truly making a difference,” she told participants.

Breast cancer screening has been lowered to 40 in Ontario and people can self-refer at PRH if they need to for a mammogram, she said.

Most of the participants wore pink and many had a very specific reason for walking. Sue Seguin of Pembroke was walking for her sister, Nikki, for the second year. She raised $1,200 this year.

“She died just after her 60^th birthday,” she said.

Eva Brushett of Petawawa was another returning participant, raising $1,870.

“I have a lot of cancer in my family and a lot of my friends,” she said. “I lost count. It is young and old.”

She noted she asks a lot of people for donations to reach her goal.

“When I tell them it is going to the Pembroke hospital and it is a cancer event, it makes a lot of difference,” she said.