Proof of a miracle: Racing for a cure

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Race for the Cure

The Susan G. Komen Lowcountry Race for the Cure was held Saturday on Daniel Island. A record crowd turned out again for this year's 5K walk/run.

Her 6-month-old daughter clung to the single string of pink beads around mom's neck. Tera Jahn stood on the steps shoulder to shoulder with other breast cancer survivors. Her hair wasn't any more than scruffs and she blinked back tears.

As the gathering broke, the other women made their way to her for a word, a hug, a pat or just a gentle touch on the arm. One after another, with their strings of pink beads. Each string is a year survived. Jahn was nearly overwhelmed. She is 30 years old. Her cancer was detected six months ago, two weeks before her daughter, Ciera, was born.

They put the chemotherapy port into her vein two weeks after the birth. Two weeks from now she undergoes a double mastectomy. It is the St. George resident's third diagnosed cancer. Her daughter wore a T-shirt that read, "I'm proof of a miracle."

The 16th annual Komen Race for the Cure was held Saturday on Daniel Island, a fundraiser whose proceeds go to fighting breast cancer in 13 counties along the South Carolina coast.

Before the start, in a moving moment, the survivors are invited to the stadium stairs in front of the crowd to hold high their pink carnations and roses. Some exalt, some cry. Most find someone they know to grab on to. In the crowd, the people who came with them cheer loudly or quietly draw it all in.

One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The race began with a friend's promise to fight for Susan G. Komen, who died of the disease. It's become a poignant swirl of pink -- outfits, shirts, scarves, dresses, caps, sneakers, leis, tutus, hair, balloons and the ubiquitous symbol: the pink ribbon.

The race opens not with the usual horde of hunched over runners, but with a one-mile walk featuring women wearing pink beads, accompanied by family and friends. This year, Jenny Sanford, the governor's estranged wife, accompanied them -- her first public appearance since she left the mansion in Columbia for her Sullivan's Island home.

This year's event drew the largest number of participants ever, for the second year in a row: More than 8,200 ran or walked. Last year, a record 6,800 turned out. Thousands more urged them on.

They are people like Angela Brown of Charleston, who also wore a one-year string of beads. She walked with her cousin, Carrie Jefferson, 73, of North Charleston, who wore five strings, and four generations of their families. And people like Quanda Johnican, whose mother, Annette Jefferson, is a seven-year breast cancer survivor.

They are people like Delores Failey, of Charleston, who wore 12 strings. "Yes, sir. They're in my soul," she said.

Marie Hoyle of Charleston carried a cutout of a big pair of lips colored pink reading, "Betsy's Lipstick." Her mother, Betsy Snead, died last year. She had put on the hued lipstick for every one of her treatment appointments, wore it when she volunteered working with other breast cancer patients, telling each of them, "Put on your lipstick. Keep smiling. Keep going."

This year was Tera Jahn's first time. She delayed the mastectomy to take part. She told the doctors she had to do the walk. She used words like "empowering" and "amazing."

"It gives you hope," she said. "I love to see these women who have 25 strings of beads. I want 75."

Reach Bo Petersen at 937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.

Editor's note: Earlier published versions of this story contained an error regarding Quanda Johnican's mother's breast cancer and her status as a survivor. The Post and Courier regrets the error.