We Tell Your Story
Part of Runway's mission is to honor the legacies and stories of those who have been impacted by breast cancer. Our blog page is dedicated to helping us share those stories.
Learn more about the importance and impact of our blog by watching the following video.
Debbie First was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1977 and had 13 months of a groundbreaking treatment. With three children under 12 and the support of her husband, Debbie managed a full time position as Executive Director of Action for Children’s Television. Nearly five decades later, she is cancer free and walks the Runway stage for the third time with a unique perspective on how far cancer awareness, research, treatment and support have come—giving us hope for a future with more cures and more people living with the disease.
As a single mother diagnosed with breast cancer, Jennie’s first fear was not for herself. It was for her kids. But through treatment, Jennie found strength, faith, and a renewed commitment to her own happiness.
“I always get back up, no matter what,” she says.
Kerrianne Eldora’s breast cancer diagnosis came during an already devastating season for her family.
Six weeks before Kerrianne was diagnosed, her sister received the same news. Their mother had also been diagnosed with breast cancer at age 40 and had gone through it twice.
Through it all, Kerrianne held tightly to hope.
“You have to know that things are going to work out,” she says. “You have to be as positive as you can, even when you feel like that rain cloud is overhead.”
Laurie Turney has been shaped by breast cancer for nearly 30 years.
Her second diagnosis, this time stage IV metastatic breast cancer, was very serious.
Laurie was told she had three to five years.
Today, she is 63 and a half, feeling great, and celebrating 20 years cancer-free.
“I’m celebrating the last 20 years that we didn’t know we were going to have,” Laurie says.
Valerie David is known to many as The Pink Hulk.
A four-time cancer survivor over 27 years, Valerie has turned her story into a one-woman show about finding the superhero within. Earlier this year, after surgery for what doctors believed was a benign brain tumor, pathology revealed that metastatic breast cancer had been growing on the tumor.
For a while, Valerie says she lost The Pink Hulk.
But after her most recent scans came back clear, something shifted.
“The girl got her mojo back,” Valerie says.
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