Cancer on the Run

By LISA RICHARDSON

Sept. 25, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

It took a medical trauma for 58-year-old Shirley Starr to learn one of the hardest lessons of her life--how to accept help from other people.

In February, the La Habra resident discovered a painful lump in her breast that was diagnosed as cancer. She did not have medical insurance. It was during this dark period that Starr found herself surrounded by strangers who cared.

Her doctors offered services at half price. Hospitals donated costly tests, and two local centers that help women with breast cancer--the YWCA Encoreplus and the Susan G. Komen Foundation--helped pay her bills.

“Before this, I had such a hard time accepting anybody’s help that I think God had a drastic way to teach me,” Starr said. “I learned how much people can love someone.”

Starr has become a spokeswoman for Sunday’s Race for the Cure in Newport Beach, one of the nation’s largest fund-raisers for breast cancer research.

While the event attracts serious runners, many of the men and women who participate are breast cancer survivors, or are running or walking in honor of friends or relatives who have struggled with the disease.

In late July, Starr had her right breast and 20 lymph nodes removed. She is undergoing chemotherapy and cannot complete the 5K. Her grandson, Brent Flack, 14, plans to run in Sunday’s race for her.

“He’s very mature, and he’s a very feeling person,” Starr said. “He said ‘Grandma, I cannot give you money like everybody else, but can I run for you.’ ”

About 20,000 runners are expected, said race spokeswoman Sally Coombe.

In 16 years, the Komen Foundation has raised more than $65 million to fight breast cancer, in part through 77 Race for the Cure events held each year nationwide, Coombe said.

Komen is also the largest nonprofit provider of breast cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment services for women. The foundation also is the nation’s largest private funder of research dedicated solely to breast cancer, Coombe said.

Orange County’s race has been one of the most successful, raising $1.4 million in recent years. Last year, Orange County runners raised more than $500,000; this year they are expected to raise about $800,000, Coombe said.

An estimated 1,650 Orange County women will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and one will die every day, according to cancer statistics kept by the foundation.

The race includes team competitions, a women’s and coed 5K run/walk, a family 1-mile run/walk plus live entertainment, a fitness and health expo and free refreshments.

One of the event’s highlights is the moment at race’s end when women who have survived cancer gather in a show of support.

Sunday, Rosemary Davis, 55, principal at Dr. Louis G. Zeyen Elementary School in Garden Grove, plans to be one of them.

She has beaten cancer twice and plans to celebrate Sunday when she and about 100 friends and co-workers from the Garden Grove Unified School District will run.

“It doesn’t matter which cancer they find a cure for,” Davis said. “I think the method they find will most likely fight various cancers.”

Davis was diagnosed with colon cancer in 1977 and thyroid cancer in 1994. Life is easier on her now.

“I’m a believer that stress is related to cancer, so I try to keep the stress level down,” she said. “I have a more mellow outlook. I believe in living fully each day. All of us who have had to battle cancer feel that life is sweeter.”

Also contributing to this report was Times correspondent Jason Kandel.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Race for the Cure

Date: Sunday

Preregistration: Saturday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.; Pacific Life, 700 Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach

Cost: $25 preregistration, $30 day of race; youths (17 and younger) and seniors (60 and older), $15, or $18 day of race

Course: Rolling hills, ocean breezes, downhill finish

Course records: Men, 14:20 (1995); women, 15:51 (1996)

Information: Phone (714) 224-0290 or Web access at www.occure.com

Race-Day Schedule

Registration 6:30 a.m.

Fitness & Health Expo 6:30-noon