Chicago's 18th Annual Cancer Walk

Robert H. Lurie's Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University will host its 18th annual Cancer Survivors Celebration Walk June 5th at Grant Park.

The event begins at 7:30 a.m., the walk at 8:30, and will be the kick off to the National Cancer Survivors Day, also on June 5. The walk will be on no matter the weather.

Wellness centers and clinics welcome cancer survivors, their friends and families to participate in the four mile walk to raise both money and awareness for all types of cancer. The event sponsors are hoping to raise community awareness and honor the cancer survivors.

The walk is noncompetitive, along the lakefront, and will conclude with refreshments. Along with refreshments will be family entertainment and the chance to sign the Dedication Wall. No pledges are required.

Tickets are available online until June 3 for $15 and can be accessed on Northwestern's webpage. Tickets will also be sold at the event for $25.

According to Cancer.org, about 1,529,560 new cancer cases were expected to be diagnosed in 2010, excluding basal and squamous cell skin cancers, although more than two million people were treated for the cancers in 2006.

The key to curing millions of men, women and children of this disease is to act quickly. Doctors emphasize early detection, and the Celebration Walk fundraiser hopes to further encourage community involvement in improving the quality and effectiveness of cancer care.

On June 5 I will walk for my dad and friend. Currently battling skin and bone cancer, my life has personally been touched by cancer survivors. And whether yours has or has not, you have the power to change someone else's life.

For more information call 312-695-1300 or visit cancer.northwestern.edu/walk

Below I have included a few quotes that I have shared with my family and friends to keep patients and survivors in high spirits. Please feel free to contribute; I would really appreciate it.

"A strong positive attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug." - Patricia Neal

"The strongest oak of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun. It's the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rains and the scorching sun." - Napoleon Hill

"If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them. When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope? We have two options, medically and emotionally: give up, or fight like hell." - Lance Armstrong

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference." - Serenity Prayer

"We acquire the strength we overcome." - Ralph Waldo Emerson