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No one in Joan Staut’s family had ever been diagnosed with breast cancer. So when she got a phone call early one Friday morning from her daughter, Julie Geraghty, the news hit like a bolt from the blue. What had been thought to be a benign cyst was, in fact, a malignant tumor.

“Julie said, ‘The doctor wants me to come this afternoon and bring someone with me,’” recalls Staut. “I said, ‘I’ll be there.’”

That was in July. In the months since then, Geraghty, who lives in Lake Mary, has undergone four surgeries—a biopsy, lumpectomy, removal of axillary lymph nodes and implantation of a port—and several grueling rounds of chemotherapy and radiation.

Consequently, an event with which Staut had always been involved, the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Pasco County, hit closer to home than ever before.

Staut is the welcome center manager at Connerton, a 4,800-acre, master-planned community in Pasco County. Developed by Terrabrook, Connerton will eventually encompass five villages comprising numerous housing styles and a Town Center.

When the American Cancer Society approached the brand-new community in 2005 to seek participation in a cancer walk, Staut had just begun her job. That year, about a dozen Connerton employees signed on with about 20 joining the following year.

This year, Staut says, the goal was to add to the numbers by enlisting the participation of Connerton residents as well as employees.

The 5K walk, the largest breast cancer event of its type in Pasco and Hernando counties, is in its fifth year. About 1,000 walkers, many of them breast cancer survivors, were expected at this year’s event, held at the idyllic Little Everglades Steeplechase in Dade City, where participants stroll along a grassy path surrounded by rolling hills, wild egrets and osprey nests.

“When I first saw the site, I thought, ‘This is so beautiful,’” says Jean Harberts, community liaison and staff representative for the American Cancer Society for Pasco, Hernando and Citrus Counties. “I can’t think of a better place to honor and recognize women.”

Walkers, however, are not only women. Any individual or group can walk in memory of a loved one or to honor a survivor. Harberts remembers meeting a first-time walker five years ago who told her that his wife, mother and favorite aunt had all been diagnosed with breast cancer within that same year.

“People come to this walk because breast cancer affects everybody,” says Harberts. “Every three minutes, a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s got to be stopped.”

Stopping breast cancer, and helping those diagnosed with it, are the primary goals of this walk. Because there is no registration fee, walkers raise money by soliciting donations in any amount.

This year’s target goal was $147,000. Harberts says the money comes back into the community by funding research and supporting programs to make the lives of those affected a little easier.

One such program is Look Good Feel Better. A cosmetologist is trained by an oncologist to understand the changes that chemotherapy can cause to a woman’s hair, skin and teeth. The cosmetologist then teaches women undergoing treatment how to take care of their wigs and how to apply makeup using an aseptic technique, because chemo often leaves patients prone to infections.
Another program is Reach to Recovery, which pairs a newly diagnosed woman with a survivor whose experience mirrors the other’s as closely as possible (for example, both the same age, undergoing double mastectomies and undergoing the same cocktail of treatments).

The survivor’s role is not to give advice; rather it is to listen, give the newly diagnosed woman information and guide her through the often bewildering and frightening process of returning to health and an active lifestyle.

Road to Recovery is another program benefiting from the event. Using this service, patients are picked up from their homes, driven to their treatment sessions and returned home at no cost.

As well as research and support, American Cancer Society staff and volunteers keep a close eye on legislation. Harberts says that last year, the organization managed to kill a bill at the national level that would have eliminated some free mammograms.

Such volunteers—people who man phones, write to politicians, provide emotional support to the newly diagnosed and organize fundraising events—are the backbone of the group, says Harberts.

“The first year I went to a meeting to talk about Connerton’s particiation, I saw the passion these women have—it’s just contagious,” says Staut. “But I had no personal experience. It’s not the same after it hits home [and you realize] how important it is for all women to be aware and go in for mammograms.”

Staut’s daughter, for example, had no previous family history of the disease; nor did she have any of the risk factors. The divorced mother of a 9-and 12-year-old, she was not overweight, exercised regularly and eats well.

Initially, she was diagnosed with a Stage 1 tumor that was less than one centimeter in diameter. But that diagnosis was moved up to a Stage 2B after it was determined that the cancer had moved to a lymph node. The family rallied around, however, and Geraghty herself has been a source of inspiration, says her mother.

Staut adds that she’s grateful for the understanding and sensitivity shown by her employer, Terrabrook/Connerton.

“They were very supportive of me being with Julie,” Staut says. “We’re fortunate we work for companies that understand, so you can be there without feeling guilty. And they’ve been really supportive of the breast cancer walk.”

In fact, Staut says, the unwelcome specter of breast cancer in her family has revealed unexpected levels of support. When she sent an email to all her friends asking for help with the fundraiser, she says she was astonished at the response, even from people to whom she had only infrequent contact.

A flood of emails came back telling stories about others who had been impacted by breast cancer. Everyone, it seems, had been effected, directly or indirectly.

The stories that Staut likes best, of course, are the survivor stories. And she’s confident and proud of her daughter’s positive attitude, which she believes is key to beating the disease.

“Julie’s doing incredibly well, and her attitude will get her through this,” says Staut. We want her to walk in the survivor’s race in the future.”