Keeping Logan's Promise - September 24, 2018 - News Update
13th Annual Walk Across Southeastern CT - October 6, 2018
Walkers help fund breast cancer research that is saving lives. Click  here to Register to Walk! 
Volunteers make it all happen! Click  here  to register to Volunteer! 
Dear supporters

First things first. Oct 6 is fast approaching. Have you registered to walk, volunteer or sponsor a walker? There's still time to visit our website www.tbbcf.org  and make a big difference in some way.

Our top stories follow walkers and volunteers during the 2018 walk training season. They include great interviews with full marathoners, Linda Litsch and John Felty. Also follow our roving reporting as she interviews walkers and volunteers on the 16-mile training walk  in Mystic.

In this issue, we rembember Aimee Reed and Cynthia Ulrich, who both lost their fight with breast cancer after courageous battles that included Phase I trial studies. They are both an inspiration to me and the reason we have to keep raising money for research.
 
Our honorary walk chair Johanna D'Addario is keeping us updated on her life via her blog, and in a heartfelt post Johanna challenges us to do as she did and make a $34 donation to Aimee Reed's walker fundraiser. A dollar for each year of Aimee's life. Johanna, who is also 34, gives us hope. Her journey is helping us see there is reason for hope.
 
Our supporters continue to amaze us.  In addition to the hundreds who participate in the annual Walk Across Southeastern Connecticut, TBBCF also relies on sponsors and other donors to keep the organization going.  Many are so generous and they are not looking for praise.  But, we at TBBCF appreciate every dollar that is given to us. Chuck Bowe of Grand Wine and Spirits and Brian Carey of Carlin Contracting Company , are just two of the many unsung heroes who support us year after year. 

You can be part of our great story ... register to walk, become a volunteer or donate to a walker today!

  Sincerely, Sandy Maniscalco - TBBCF Co-founder
John Felty 
walked the walk for TBBCF
 ... completed marathon two weeks early


By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB
John Felty crossing the "virtual" 26.2-mile finish line.

After a year of contemplating whether or not to walk the 26.2 miles of the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation fundraiser marathon, and with some prodding from his friend Denise Nott, John Felty decided 2018 was going to be his year. He signed up for the Oct 6 Walk Across Southeastern Connecticut and started a fundraising page on Facebook.
 
But five minutes after his post went public, his sister-in-law reminded him he was going to be busy that weekend. His niece was getting married in Pennsylvania.

Instead of backing out, Felty did what TBBCF officials encourage others to do if they can't make the actual walk date -- do a virtual walk. That doesn't mean you don't complete the marathon. It means you walk it on another day.

So, on Sepember  22, 2018, after participating in training walks for 12 weeks, Felty walked 26.2 miles around Mystic, with his friends Nott and Barbara Rice walking part of the way with him. 

He walked an eight-mile loop and three, six-mile loops. Another friend, Chuck Gimbut, joined them for the last six miles. All three friends will walk the marathon on Oct 6. Full story
Linda Litsch ... just get out there and ask
By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB

Linda with her son, Kaden
Since 2009, Linda Litsch has raised thousands of dollars for TBBCF. The first year, she walked all 26.2 miles after seeing a flyer on the bulletin board at a Stop & Shop. She walked in the pouring rain, got blisters, lost a couple toenails and cried the whole time. She said it was one of the best things she ever did. She dyed a lock of her hair pink eight years ago and to this day maintains the hot pink highlight to show solidarity with all those facing breast cancer.

Litsch is about to participate in the 13th annual Walk Across Southeastern Connecticut. On Oct. 6, it will the be 10th time she'll be walking the entire 26.2-mile marathon.

Linda says it's not hard for her to ask for donations for her fundraiser. But she knows that for others it is an uncomfortable proposition.  Her suggestion - just do it. 

Click here  for Linda's fundraising tips. 
Walk this way with TBBCF
By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB

August 25 - It's 7 a.m. at Cottrell Park in Mystic and the sun is trying to burn through the early morning haze over the Mystic River. The temperature is mild but the humidity is high. The 20 men and women who have gathered in the park for a 16-mile training walk to prepare for the Oct. 6 Walk Across Southeastern Connecticut are not phased.

In fact, they are quite animated at they gather for a group picture and walker training organizer Anne Rochette shouts good natured instructions: If there are no sidewalks walk facing traffic. Walk in a single file. Pay attention to what you're doing. Ellen Swercewski, another longtime TBBCF volunteer, hands out maps and takes the group picture.

As the walkers make their way through downtown Mystic, past Mystic Seaport, through Old Mystic and down River Road back to downtown, they split into smaller groups, some chatting, some enjoying the early morning views of the Mystic River and some with their heads down, concentrating on getting through the miles. The reason they walk is never far from their minds.  Full story
Johanna D'Addario
2018 honorary walk chair, Johanna D'Addario, touched on a number of important topics in her September blogs including what being a patient's been like for her, the the importance of family during her cancer journey, and more practically, how she approaches training for a half marathon. 

Johanna also shared with us her reactions to the 

Aimee Reed was my age, full of life, and seemed to always have a smile on her face. Although I didn't know her, she was well known to the TBBCF family and the chemotherapy nurses I work with at Yale-New Haven Hospital. From reading about her, I can tell she had grace, determination, and grit. She was an inspiration.

Aimee planned to participate in the Walk Across Southeastern CT with us on October 6th, and it goes without saying that walk day will not be the same without her presence.  Today, I donated $34 to Aimee's walk page in her memory - one dollar for each year of her beautiful life.  I encourage everyone reading this to do the same...  Just think of the impact it will make if every walker and walk supporter "made a donation" in her honor.  ~  Johanna D'Addario

It takes all kinds to help find a cure - supporters and
sponsors keep TBBCF operating

By KATHLEEN EDGECOMB
 
When it comes to supporting the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, there are hundreds of men and women who walk in the annual Walk Across Southeastern Connecticut and raise thousands of dollars that go directly to cancer research.
 
There are also many others in the community who don't walk but who give from the heart to help sustain the 13-year-old non-profit organization.  Two such gracious businessmen are Brian Carey from Carlin Contractors and Chuck Bowe from Grand Wine & Spirits.  Full story

The thing about Aimee Reed, the thing that everyone says about her, is that she never gave up - ever. And, oh, that smile.

"Her mantra was keep climbing, keep swimming, keep smiling, keep going," said Sandy Maniscalco, co-founder of the Terri Brodeur Breast Cancer Foundation, who met Aimee after she was diagnosed in 2015 with an aggressive form of breast cancer. "She was the most courageous and determined person I have seen in a long time."

This feisty young woman - who completed triathlons after her diagnosis, volunteered for TBBCF, wrote a blog about her journey, walked in the annual TBBCF marathon, raised thousands of dollars for cancer research and faced all of life's difficulties with grit and determination, lost her 3½ year battle with cancer Aug. 29. She was 34.

"Aimee inspired us and made us want to be better people," Maniscalco said," we are all mourning her loss right now." ~Kathleen Edgecomb 


Cynthia Ulrich of Madison, Ct passed away suddenly on June 10, 2018 after a long battle with breast cancer.Cynthia began her cancer journey December 2004 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a lumpectomy, 40 radiation treatments, chemotherapy and Tamoxifen (hormone t herapy ) for 5 years. She beat that occurrence and was not diagnosed with stage IV until the spring of 2016 when it was determined that the cancer had spread to her bones.
 
She had no warning that the recurrence was happening. She was led to the diagnosis only after taking a fall while walking her beloved dog on a usual hike. She broke a rib, which was very painful, but not as painful as the new cancer diagnosis. Despite this Cynthia fully pursued all of her many activities for the next 2 years and only made minor concessions to the disease such as an occasional nap.   Read Cynthia's story