Susan G Coleman

Cool temps help Komen race raise $3 million against breast cancer

ST. LOUIS • Temperatures hovered in the low 70s and a gentle breeze caressed the thousands of pink-clad participants waiting for the Susan G. Komen St. Louis Race for the Cure to start Saturday morning.

Beth Brotherton and Marcy Emmons, both of Cape Girardeau, Mo., stood among the crowd at the starting line about 8:30 a.m., looking way too young to be wearing survivor T-shirts.

The two met several months ago when Emmons, 33, approached Brotherton, 35, at their daughters' gymnastics class, pointed to her bald head and said: "Hey, I was rocking that same hairdo about three years go."

The two instantly bonded. Both had been diagnosed with Stage 3, Grade 3 cancer in their early 30s. Emmons has been in remission for two years, and Brotherton, who just finished treatment and has short, spiky chemo hair to prove it, was told recently that she's in remission too.

"I was shocked and glad that I could talk to someone my own age," Brotherton recalls of their first meeting. "She's been there: the surgery, the chemo, the radiation. Plus most women with breast cancer are older and have had their kids, and they have different issues."

Emmons and Brotherton were among the 4,905 breast cancer survivors at the downtown event, run in mild temperatures that were a reprieve from the blistering heat of the past week. The roughly 64,000 participants made it the largest Komen race in the nation for the fourth consecutive year, organizers said.

It raised more than $3 million for breast cancer research and care, although the number fell from last year, when a record 71,000 participants raised more than $3.4 million.

Erica Stelling, a spokeswoman for Komen St. Louis, said there was no clear reason for the decline. "Last year we added the timed event for competitive runners, and we got a boost from that because it was new," she said. "And with all the natural disasters over the last few months with tornadoes, it's just speculation, but some attention probably went to that."

She said the total would grow for another month from people still collecting for their teams and doing personal fundraising.

Stacy Patterson, 25, and Eli Kalingo, 28, both of O'Fallon, Ill., stood nearby with Gucci, a tiny hairless Chinese crested dog sporting a breast cancer T-shirt that stated: "This Chick's Gone Pink." The only fur on Gucci's skinny gray-spotted body — wisps on her tail and a tuft on her head — were dyed pink.

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