CCB MEDIA FILE PHOTO
Dr. Laurel Schaider, right, and Janet Ackerman give a presentation about breast cancer research at Barnstable Town Hall in 2014.
BREWSTER – Breast cancer prevention through education, advocacy and change in public policy is the goal of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and its annual Against the Tide fundraiser is an opportunity for people committed to the cause to make a difference.
“About 16 years ago, we came together and decided that it would be a good idea, since breast cancer rates are higher than the national average here on Cape Cod, that we would pull together a really impressive event to bring families together to enjoy ourselves on the beach and to support our goal of prevention,” Cheryl Osimo, executive director of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition.
COURTESY MASSACHUSETTS BREAST CANCER COALITION
Walkers at the Against the Tide fundraiser.
The annual Swim, Kayak, Walk or Run Against the Tide fundraising event is scheduled for Saturday, August 15, at Flax Pond in Nickerson State Park in Brewster.
There are five different start times for the events. At 8:30 a.m., there is a competitive swim/aquathon. At 8:45 a.m., there is a 5K run and 10K run.
At 8:50 a.m., the walk begins.
At 9:45 a.m. there is a recreational swim, and at 10:45 a.m. there is a kayak course.
Proceeds of Against the Tide benefit the coalition, which is a breast cancer organization that seeks to understand the causes of breast cancer in order to find ways to prevent the disease.
COURTESY OF MASSACHUSETTS BREAST CANCER COALITION
Swimmers at the Against the Tide fundraiser.
Osimo explained, “In 1993, when the Cancer Registry let us know that cancer rates on Cape Cod were 21 percent above the state average, we lobbied the state legislature. Residents of Cape Cod and supporters of the breast cancer coalition went to the state house and said, ‘We need to do something about this. The numbers are staggering.’”
In 1994, Silent Spring Institute, the sister organization of the breast cancer coalition was founded.
“We’ve been doing environmental research to find the links between breast cancer and the environment here on Cape Cod for the past over two decades,” Osimo said, “And sadly it’s been difficult for us to keep this research going, because it’s been difficult for us to find that state funding that we were able to get in the first place.”
The organization received over $7 million in the first 10 years, but state funding has been less forthcoming in recent years and that means fundraising takes on an extra importance.
Osimo said, the coalition’s role as a sister organization to Silent Spring is to provide an educational component. To, As Osimo put it, “change the legacy of breast cancer for future generations.”
Listen below as Cheryl Osimo, executive director of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and co-founder of Silent Spring Institute; Dr. Corey Blake, a veterinarian who owns Oceanside Animal Hospital; Dana D’Allesandro, a clinical social worker with Women and Infants Hospital, talk about Against the Tide and breast cancer on Cape Cod.
