I was there...but I did Central Park. It definitely was an emotional day...and besides the thousands of people that were there, I was overwhelmed to see how many of them were survivors.

Thousands raise $ in walk against breast cancer
Monday, October 20, 2008
By TOM SHORTELL
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Thousands of marchers, many donning pink T-shirts under their coats and sweatshirts, strode through the Newport section of Jersey City yesterday morning for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk.

The five-kilometer walk began at Exchange Place, where organizers set up tents housing a deejay, guest speakers, as well as tables to buy T-shirts and sweatshirts, before heading north on Washington Street and looping back.

As of yesterday morning, the American Cancer Society had raised more than $128,000 from the march, which had more participants than last year's 2,400, organizers said.

With $31,000 in pledges, Hudson County raised the most money of all the participating entities and County Executive Thomas DeGise raised the most of any individual participant with more than $3,800 in pledges, according to the walk's Web page at www.makingstrides.acsevents.org.

Many participants yesterday were cancer survivors, including County Clerk Barbara Netchert, who cut the ribbon to start the walk.

"To see all the people today, I can't tell you the satisfaction I feel," said Netchert, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1985.

Knowing she wasn't alone with her struggles was an important factor for Netchert's recovery. "Reach out, and don't be afraid," she advised cancer victims.

For Estelle Munn, a Jersey City breast cancer survivor, the march was as much for people who have not yet been diagnosed as it was for people getting treatment. Her doctor originally diagnosed the lump she felt as a cyst. But Munn, whose grandmother died of breast cancer in 2004, sought a second opinion.

"Girls in their 20s, if they feel a lump, they need to get it checked," she said. "You need to keep pressing until you get an answer you can accept."

Maria Rivera, a Jersey City woman, was overwhelmed by the number of people participating in the walk.

"Oh my gosh," Rivera said. "I'm very emotional today."

Rivera was diagnosed in July and is currently undergoing six different treatments for three tumors.

Despite having a type of cancer that will claim the lives of 40,480 women in the United States this year, according to the American Cancer Society, Rivera said she's never lost hope or given into self-pity. "I've never said, 'Why me?'"

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