3-Day Breast Cancer Walk Kicks Off In D.C.

The D.C. Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure kicked off at the D.C. Armory in Southeast earlier this morning as nearly 2,000 men and women in bright pink t-shirts, prepared to walk 60 miles over the next three days. 

The walk for the cure, other iterations of which are happening around the country in the San Francisco Bay area, Boston, Chicago, Atlanta, Cleveland and others, helps raise money and awareness for breast cancer research. 

People all here to say that breast cancer can be overcome, the tag line is everyone deserves a lifetime.  

The breast cancer survivors, supporters and their friends will walk under the walk's tag line, "everyone deserves a lifetime" to show their support for all their loved ones who have been stricken with breast cancer and to try to overcome this terrible disease. 

Dr. Sheri Phillips, breast cancer survivor and national spokesperson for the Komen foundation, spoke at the opening ceremony to get everyone geared up and ready to walk. "There are so many individuals who have come out and have dedicated this entire three-day weekend to the cause," she said. "We want people to know that everyone deserves the right to hear about their daughter's first kiss, or the right to stand next to the one they love and say, 'I do.'" 

Participants also read off names of family members or other loved ones that had been taken by breast cancer. 

"We ask individuals to remember those warriors who have lost the battle to this disease, and we honor them," Phillips said. "We carry them with us over these 60 miles and with every mile they give us strength to continue and finish."