Saturday's Pink Ribbon Run/Walk raises money for Trumbull cancer patients

WARREN

Breast cancer is devastating and potentially life-threatening, but on the grounds of Trumbull Memorial Hospital Saturday morning, about 150 walkers and runners offered a message of hope: it can be beaten.

Patty Grolemund, 62, of Austintown, is living proof. She was among several breast cancer survivors who showed up.

“I needed surgery, chemo and radiation, but I’m cancer-free for eight years,” she said.

Grolemund’s view comes from the inside. She was a TMH nurse for 40 years and had her cancer treatments there. “Those people at the center saved my life,” she said. “I’m walking in their honor and for the people whose lives they saved and tried to save.”

So did many others in the 11th Annual Pink Ribbon Run/Walk to benefit the Breast and Cervical Cancer Project. Entrants sported fluorescent green T-shirts emblazoned with the pink ribbon, the breast cancer symbol. Participants could chose to either walk or run 1 kilometer or 5 kilometers on the streets of Warren’s east side.

“All of the money we raise is earmarked for Trumbull County,” said Darla Habosky of Southington, the hospital’s lead radiation therapist. “[Our event] helps women over 40 with no insurance or low-income get free mammograms and pap smears.”

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.