Archive for January, 2010
Latest News & Info
Join Us at the Avon Sweetheart Soiree on Feb. 11. More info here.
The Pink Glove
Check out this great breast cancer awareness video by the folks at the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon.
Men With Heart in the News
Over the last few weeks, media attention on MWH has picked up. Check out some of the links below.
- Article on NHL.com
- Video on NHL.com (Scroll down to find MWH link.)
- Article in the Harvard Post
- Article in the Swampscott Reporter
- Article in the Hingham Journal
“Runway” Gala a Runaway Success!
Hundreds of attendees gathered at the InterContinental Hotel in Boston on Oct. 22 to support the the Faulkner Hospital Sagoff Center. The “Runway” Gala featured highbrow and lowbrow fashion. The former included a modeling competition that showcased the works of Boston’s most talented young designers from the School of Fashion Design. The latter involved a somewhat motley crew from MWH, sporting genuine cancer walk gear, including backpacks, baseball caps, sloggers, and our signature yellow jerseys.
A live and online auction also infused the bottom line, with the final total still being tallied. If recent events are any indication, hundreds of thousand of dollars will have been raised to support the Sagoff Center’s breast cancer treatment and prevention programs.
For a clip of MWH’s runway spoof, click here. For photos from the event, click here.
Race for the Cure Attracts Thousands
On Saturday, Sept. 26, Men With Heart joined thousands of participants at the 17th annual Komen Race for the Cure. This 5K walk/run had a huge turnout with more than 7,500 runners and walkers. The beautiful weather couldn’t have been more perfect for a saunter or sprint. MWH had a booth inside the World Trade Center where we talked to hundreds of participants and gave out thousands of MWH pins. For a photo gallery of the event, click here.
Lots more stuff is happening this fall! See our events calendar for more details or just contact us.
We’ve Only Just Begun!
The major walks are done for 2009. We hiked for five days and 100 miles to fight breast cancer. But we’re not finished! We have several events upcoming during the rest of the summer and the fall. Won’t you join us? You can volunteer for a few hours or walk for a few miles. And you don’t even need to camp out! See our events calendar for more details or just contact us.
Birch/Cotter Regatta: Sailing Toward a Cure
The 3rd Annual Jenny Birch/Susan Snow-Cotter Memorial Regatta to Fight Breast Cancer attracted more than 80 young mariners from across Massachusetts. Read details here.
The Boston Breast Cancer 3-Day: From Our Heads and Our Hearts
There are two ways of looking at the just-completed Boston Breast Cancer 3-Day — analytically and emotionally.
Now, we’re just a bunch of guys, and you already know the male gender’s predisposition: men would rather discuss horsepower or batting averages than talk about their feelings. We can’t fight our nature, so here’s an analytical take on the event:
weather: From crappy to heavenly. Some veteran walkers say Friday morning’s monsoon was the worst walk weather since the freak snowstorm of Avon ’02. There was simply no resisting it; we became one with the moisture. Yet Saturday and Sunday provided some perfectly fine and occasionally glorious strolling weather.
route: We gotta give the 3-Day folks credit: they mapped out a fabulous course. They managed to keep us off of most of the heartbreak hills. We saw the best of the city and the ‘burbs. (And who knew Southie had such pristine beaches?!)
facilities: It pains nature lovers like ourselves to admit it, but camping on artificial turf has its advantages: no mud, no leaves, no muck, no bugs. (Although the mosquitoes were nasty.) The non-existent lines in the men’s showers were a major plus, at least for us (sorry ladies!); and the short food lines were appreciated by every hungry walker.
organizational issues: Everything was going along swimmingly until closing ceremonies concluded. Question: What brilliant Komen flunky decided it was a good idea to make participants walk another mile AFTER the walk was finished? And what, exactly, was the advantage in parking a mile away from UMass? We still had a massive traffic jam; the only difference being that we had to walk there first in order to get stuck in it.
impact: 1600 walkers raised more than $4 million in the fight against breast cancer. A major, impressive blow in the ongoing battle against an insidious foe.
OK, so maybe analytical ain’t cutting it. We are men enough to admit that the essence of the walk doesn’t lend itself to a dispassionate dissection. Perhaps we should break down those gender barriers that keep a man’s feeling hidden?
Fortunately, many on the Men With Heart team got in touch with their feminine sides by virtue of being surrounded by 1400 women over the course of three days. (Case in point, our teammate Paul D., who willingly subjected himself to a MAN-icure [get it?], allowing his fingernails to be painted hot pink.*) As such, we think we are psychologically ready to give our emotional reaction to the walk.
We were all part of a sea—no, a tsunami—of incredible people who walked as one, who renewed existing bonds and created new friendships. We shared stories of many cancer-related sorrows (and, thankfully, some survivor-related joys) even as we endured our own hardships on the walk. (But we knew that our blisters and cramps and shin splints were nothing compared to what our loved ones fighting breast cancer have withstood.)
We walked through driving rain, scorching sun, and oppressive humidity. We provided shoulders to lean on and cry on. We supported each other and cheered each other on. If one of us faltered, others quickly stepped in to offer a hand. And simultaneously, we helped our loved ones of this and the next generation. Together, we took on a profound cause and a formidable enemy. And we won the battle.
No, we didn’t find a cure for breast cancer this past weekend. But we chipped away at it effectively, relentlessly, determinatively. We demonstrated a commitment and a tenacity that will, ultimately, vanquish this disease.
We at Men With Heart consider it a privilege to have walked with you, and we thank you for the opportunity. We were moved by your shared stories and your words of thanks and encouragement. We are grateful for your good-natured tolerance of our off-key singing. And we hope we helped to make your steps lighter, your pain more tolerable, and your spirits brighter.
And we look forward to doing it all over again next year!
On behalf of all the Men With Heart,
Jack Burlingame
P.S. If you’d like to leave a message, please use the “comments” link at the top of this post.
P.P.S. Our man Paul (shown in the photo above) is not just another pretty face. He also put together an incredible slideshow on the walk. Check it out below.
* Just in case you want to buy a bottle, here’s the name of the polish used to paint Paul’s fingernails: “Back Off!”
