By Jennifer Jacob Brown / jbrown@themeridianstar.com
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN —
Meridianite Cindy Kane has taken three seemingly unrelated interests of hers and rolled them into one; her love of wearing high heels, her hobby of running, and her passion for raising breast cancer awareness have all found a place in the Queen City Race for Life, which Cindy organized.
The race, which features a 150 yard high heel dash, a 5k run/walk, and a 1 mile fun run, is meant to raise both money and awareness in the fight against breast cancer — a cause which is close to Cindy's heart.
"I have a sister that has terminal cancer from breast cancer," Cindy said, "She has been my hero because she's been fighting it for over two years. . . She's been an inspiration for not only friends and family, but for other breast cancer patients."
Cindy said she also has two good friends who are fighting breast cancer, and had aunts who fought the disease as well, making the cause even more special to her.
"I just wanted to do something with breast cancer to raise money or help people be aware of it," she said. "It's not only in your genes. It's also in your diet, being healthy, and that's kind of why I got into running — for my health."
Cindy said she participated in a high heel dash for breast cancer awareness in Pensacola several months ago, and contacted to local chapter of the American Cancer Society once she got home to find out if we had one here in Meridian.
When she found out we didn't, Cindy took it upon herself to make sure that we do now. She also teamed up with Meridian Community College's Phi Beta Kappa chapter to combine the Race for Life with Phi Beta Kappa's Street Strut event.
"I think it's going to be something fun and exciting," she said. "It's there for raising money, but we also want to honor breast cancer survivors and current breast cancer patients, and that's where MCC comes in."
The event will be held Oct. 2 and will also include a health fair, a chili cook-off, and other activities. For more information, contact Kane at (601) 483-9362 or shoegirl00@bellsouth.net.
