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Hundreds join TMH walk for breast cancer
By Jordan Cohen
WARREN
Debbie Rihel of Warren is a mammogram technician at ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital who has seen countless women with breast cancer. Eighteen months ago, she learned she was one of them.
“It’s ironic, but early detection from mammography, what I do at TMH, uncovered my tumor, and now, I’m a breast-cancer survivor,” said Rihel.
Rihel, 46, joined a turnout of 600 for the hospital’s Seventh Annual Pink Ribbon Run/Walk early Saturday. Teams and individuals had the choice of running or walking in either a 1-mile or 5K competition on East Market Street in front of the hospital. Rihel’s 12-member team, sponsored by Dr. James Brodell, a Warren orthopedic surgeon, walked the 5K.
Participants paid registration fees, but Peg Krozier, TMH Healthy Woman marketing coordinator, said the event is not about fundraising.
“This is only for education, and we’ve never done this as a moneymaker,” Krozier said. “This is all about the importance of awareness and early detection.”
Some of the walkers had more than two legs. Opal, a large, white boxer, was accompanied by her owner, Tim Borger, a TMH laundry department employee. Borger said his wife, who works in the radiation and oncology department of TMH, is a breast-cancer survivor.
“She’s been on both sides of this so she can identify with [patients],” Borger said.
So could Dr. Roger Tokars, the hospital radiation oncologist, who joined the participants. Tokars said he has treated a number of the breast- cancer survivors who ran and walked in Saturday’s competition. However, it was Tokar’s dog that seemed to get the most attention. The 7-year-old show dog, a poodle named Zaney, had a coat that Tokars and his family dyed a shocking pink. Zaney, a male, didn’t seem to mind either the color or gender confusion just before he joined the mile walk.
“We used beets to dye him, and the color will wash out over time,” said Tokars, adding that Zaney has been an American Cancer Society centerfold in a Georgia publication.
Many of the walkers and runners sported pink T-shirts symbolic of the fight against breast cancer while several, both men and women, dyed their hair pink. Others wore attention-getting outfits, among them a zebra-print of black and white horizontal stripes worn by Christine Fonagy,
“I wear color-coordinated outfits for every race,” said Fonagy, who is office manager for her husband, Dr. J.J. Fonagy, a Warren podiatrist. “I’m also running for my mother, who has survived pancreatic cancer for nine years.”
Despite the upbeat nature of the walk and run, Tokars said the event’s emphasis on prevention cannot be understated.
“There is an excellent cure rate when there is early detection of Stage 1 breast cancer,” the oncologist said.
“That’s why many of these women are able to be here today.”