Come Walk With Me raises more than $194,000, helps one of our own
The festive 5K kickoff to the month-long effort called “Come Walk With Me” (CWWM) returned to downtown Sumner on Saturday, Oct. 1.
Nearly 2,000 pink-clad walkers and supporters got their steps in and held signs of encouragement. They made their way from The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse to Sumner High School, meandering through charming neighborhoods in solidarity with breast cancer patients and survivors.
MultiCare Good Samaritan Foundation has co-hosted this beloved event for 18 years alongside the city of Sumner and The Old Cannery.
Fundraising for the cause started in June and concluded at the end of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with generous CWWM participants and sponsors raising more than $194,00 (and counting) for breast health programs and services at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital.
Last year alone, CWWM fundraising provided:
- 339 complimentary wigs and consultations for breast cancer patients like Ronda Courser, a medical receptionist at Mary Bridge Children’s Health Center
- 129 breast cancer treatment handbooks
- 51 post-mastectomy camisoles
- 23 gas and grocery gift cards
Mary Bridge Children’s Health Center medical receptionist Ronda Courser in her complimentary wig made possible by Come Walk With Me donations.
During her fourth chemotherapy treatment, Courser began to lose her hair. Tired of wearing beanies and “looking like a cancer patient,” she reached out to Community Cancer Consultant Tamara Miller, MSHS, BCPA, LE, at the Good Samaritan Cancer Resource Center.
Within days, Miller mailed Courser the perfect wig, thanks to CWWM donors.
“I feel like the wig just gives you that self-confidence,” Courser explains. “For me, my hair was everything. I feel like people who donate to this cause are just amazing. For most people who have medical bills and maybe aren’t working or it’s just them, that one little extra thing of having something kind of fancy can mean a lot.”
You can support breast cancer patients like Courser by giving through Come Walk With Me’s website.
