The good doctor wore a striped tie and wire-rimmed glasses, sometimes pointing a bony finger for emphasis toward those in attendance at Red River Theatres.
Once, his microphone went dead, but it never stopped him from conveying his message, always in a soothing, measured, reassuring tone. He kept talking about breast cancer.
Meanwhile, people keep fighting.
“Here and in Boston are the major sites when Making Strides Against Breast Cancer began,” said Dr. David Rosenthal, a former president of the American Cancer Society. “The success of Making Strides is you, the volunteers. Over the years you’ve raised an amazing amount of money.”
He spoke at what’s known as the annual kick-off breakfast, a promotional lead-in to the 5-mile fundraising walk that will be held Oct. 16 at Memorial Field.
Like the state house dome, the event has evolved into a shining piece of the city’s landscape, as Concord perennially leads the nation per capita in raising money. Last November, a month after the Concord event had raised $466,871, I asked for confirmation of this pat-ourselves-on-the-back fact.
Here’s what I was told by Donna Abruzzese, the managing director of community engagement for the American Cancer Society’s New England Division, and an individual with no reason to spin things:
“Per capita in the country, that is true. I love Concord, and I will say I oversee 27 Making Strides walks around New England, and we have 300 walks in the country, and I have not seen a community embrace Making Strides like this one, or should I say be so passionate.”
That’s why one of the theaters at Red River was nearly full with more than 125 people, many of whom were team leaders for the October event. They came to charge their batteries in anticipation of the walk. And they came to hear the doctor give them data and background, not to mention hope, about a disease that is the second-leading cancer killer among women, with more than 40,000 expected to die this year.
“Since the 1990s, there’s been a two percent decline in mortality annually,” Rosenthal said. “That’s a lot of saved lives from cancer. Mortality continues to decline and survival rates continue to increase.”
Rosenthal is a hero to many of the women who attended this event. He’s the senior physician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. He played a key role in creating the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Boston, which gives patients and caregivers a place to stay during treatment, free of charge.
Lodges have also opened in Burlington, Vt., and Worcester, Mass.
“No worries, decreases stress,” said Rosenthal, describing the emotional weight the program lifts from shoulders. “And it’s a resource for them to meet other cancer patients, and it’s amazing to come to Hope Lodge.”
“It’s exhausting for the patient, exhausting for the family, and to have Hope Lodge as a resource is incredible,” said Laurie McDonald, a breast cancer survivor from Bow.
She wore a pink “survivors” sash cutting diagonally across her body, as did all survivors, each looking like a beauty pageant contestant with a victory more important than anything that could be won in Atlantic City.
Relatively speaking, McDonald was lucky. Her cancer was detected early, about four years ago, meaning she never needed treatment.
“I encourage everyone to have a mammogram,” McDonald said. “It will save your life.”
Lisa Ober of Belmont had walked in the Making Strides event for years, supporting others, before she herself was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago. A 10-centimeter cancerous tumor was found after her first-ever mammogram, at age 40.
Her hair fell out from chemotherapy, but she never wore a wig. Instead, her husband and two sons, ages 4 and 9 at the time, shaved their heads.
“We were all bald together,” Ober said. “It was awesome. Bald and bold.”
Shelly Genest of Concord, who’s 43, was diagnosed 11 years ago and lost her hair, too. She wore a wig at first, until she opened her George Foreman Grill while cooking hamburgers. A sudden blast of heat slammed her like a Foreman left hook, singeing her wig, which was then replaced by a head scarf.
“Everyone in my support group still laughs at it,” Genest said. “It was hilarious. At the time I was laughing, and you have to laugh through this whole process.”
Her family background, though, is no laughing matter. Genest’s mother, two aunts and great grandmother had breast cancer, and in fact her mom’s cancer resurfaced and she was in treatment during Thursday’s event.
“My family is strong,” Genest said, her eyes misting.
The three women listened to Rosenthal, who told them that $685 million had been raised through Making Strides, with money going toward patient services, prevention, early detection, research and advocacy.
Rosenthal noted that grants through the years had led to the donor-to-patient stem cell transplant; the discovery that cancer cells make their own blood vessels to transport themselves to other parts of the body; and a drug that attacks abnormal genes, restoring the marrow to normalcy.
Now, Rosenthal said, medical investigators are trying to discover a pill that would replace “multi combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy, biological therapy and bone marrow transplantation.”
Imagine that.
“Hope is the only thing you can have,” Ober said, “and the doctor gives more of it to us, so that’s good.”