Well, the time has come for Laura to partake in another strenuous, tear jerking, pain-enduring event. After completing the Honolulu Marathon in ‘99 and the Rock N Roll Marathon in ‘01 and raising over $4,000 for the Leukemia Society, she and her best gal pal Josie O'Neill have found another quest: The 3 Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk - Los Angeles October 18-20, 2002!

We will be completing this seventy-two hour and 60-mile trip (Santa Barbara to Malibu) for one reason and one reason only…our good friend’s mother Karen Dombek. Karen was diagnosed in October of 2000 with Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). IBC is an advanced and accelerated form of breast cancer that usually is not detected by mammograms or ultrasounds. It requires immediate aggressive treatment with chemotherapy prior to surgery and is treated differently than more common types of breast cancer. IBC has an extremely high risk of recurrence and a very poor prognosis. And unfortunately, is the most lethal of the breast cancers. Karen has been like a second mother to Laura ever since she met Kim in the 4th grade. We both have experienced first hand with Karen and Kim fear, anger, disbelief, determination, and the power and will to love and live life to the fullest. Since her diagnosis, Karen has undergone a double mastectomy, months of chemotherapy and radiation, and most recently, finding out 2 weeks ago that the cancer had metastasized in her bones.

Karen IS our HERO. After her own experience with completing marathons in the 80’s, she has given us so much support with training, as well as reminding us to look at some ugly parts of life with laughter and humor. She knows the pain and the aches that your body goes through with running 26.2 miles. She also knows the pain and the aches of having Breast Cancer. She has given us the hope and the determination to raise $1,900 for Breast Cancer, and to walk 20 miles per day for three days!

In addition to Karen, Josie and Laura are also walking for close friends and family that have also be affected by breast cancer. These very important people include Grandma Madaline Hawdon, Sandi Scott at Paradise Point, the mothers of Courtney Montgomery and Mindy Eichman and Sherry Cavender.

We need your help! By sending in your donation, you will be helping women with undetected breast cancer find out early enough to still have the chance to survive. Most of them are underserved women who would otherwise not have access to education and diagnostic services. They would die without a fighting chance. Here is a chance for your steps to save lives. Real lives. Not twenty years from now, but right now. Someone’s mother. Someone’s daughter. Someone’s friend.

The mission of the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade is to fund access to care and find a cure for breast cancer. Your efforts will support this mission through five vital areas of the breast cancer cause: biomedical research, clinical care, financial assistance and support services, educational seminars and advocacy training, and early detection and awareness programs nationwide.

We hope you will help us attain our goals of raising money for this worthy cause. We hope to raise over $4,000 for the fight against Breast Cancer. Please, if you can, make your tax-deductible donation by simply clicking on the donation icon!! Not only will you be supporting both of us in this long 60-mile walk, but you will also be standing behind Karen and all women in their battle against this horrible disease.

We thank you and look forward to sharing our three day experience with you as soon as it's over!

Thank you and God Bless,
Laura McCoy & Josette O'Neill