BOSTON (WHDH) - While the pandemic prevented their annual walk last year, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is set to return to the Hatch Shell in Boston this weekend to celebrate its 29th annual walk.
Sunday’s walk is aimed at raising awareness and money for breast cancer research.
“A lot of the times, scares are just that, they turn out to not be cancer. So just imagine how much better it would feel to know that, and if it is cancer, how much better it is to catch it early,” said Dr. Erica Warner of the Boston Breast Cancer Equity Coalition.
The Boston Breast Cancer Equity Coalition will be honored during Sunday’s event for its work providing all women with access to breast cancer care despite race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status.
The organization was created after a study found Boston was one of the top five cities in the country with the biggest divide between white and black women dying from breast cancer.
Warner says the pandemic is fueling the organization’s mission even more, as many men and women are skipping mammograms amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Screening rates have dropped the most in low-income communities, reversing some pre-pandemic gains, according to health officials. There was an 8 percent decrease in screenings from July 2019 to July 2020.
“If we are not careful and do not take clear and deliberate action, it’s the opportunity for those disparities to get bigger and to be exacerbated by the pandemic,” Warner said.
Dr. Warner wants everyone to feel safe and noted that masking and distancing precautions remain in place at check-ups.
The 29th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk kicks off at 8 a.m. Sunday at the Hatch Shell.
“Hope is important. Being diagnosed with breast cancer is very scary, and so I think it’s important to be able to look and see that there are women, people living, thriving with the disease and beyond the disease.”
For more information on the walk, click here.
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