LWR-area communities unite to raise money for breast cancer research

Lake Club's Fran Berg came home after being told she had cancer in 2001, then continued on her day as normal.

She still had work to do, children to care for, and dinner to put on the table. 

"It never occurred to me that I could get cancer," Berg said. "I had three small children, I worked, I was busy, I was in great shape, I was healthy. It just almost didn't feel real."

It wasn't until her family was sound asleep that the realization of her breast cancer and thyroid cancer diagnoses hit. 

She asked herself, "Could I really die?" 

Berg said she made a pact with God that night. She wanted to see her children graduate from high school. 

She did. 

Then she wanted to see them graduate college. 

She did. 

Now, she's hoping to see her children get married. 

"I feel like I've survived a long time, and I've been very lucky," Berg said. 

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Since then, Berg has worked to give back to the American Cancer Society, which provided resources, a support group and more. 

Berg, along with Lake Club's Maureen Cozzi, hope their Making Strides Against Breast Cancer team, The Lake Club United for a Cure team, will be able to raise $50,000 for the American Cancer Society this year. 

And they're not alone.

Residents in University Park, Rosedale and other communities are working together to raise money for breast cancer research. 

The communities are hosting events to raise funds while having fun. 

This year, The Lake Club United for a Cure team increased its goal from $25,000 to $50,000 because it has continued to surpass expectations. The organization already has raised more than $37,000 for the American Cancer Society. The team raised $18,000 last year.

Cozzi said she is blown away by the overwhelming support of the Lake Club community. 

"I am excited to see that everybody else sees how important this is," she said.

This year, The Lake Club United for a Cure team is hosting a luncheon followed by its first Hand, Knee and Foot Tournament Sept. 26. The lunch and silent auction are open to the public, but the tournament already has been filled. 

As breast cancer survivors, Berg, Rosedale's Linda Kern-Kolquist and University Park's Ronni Loundy, all said they felt they had to pay it forward. The fundraising efforts to them are personal. 

"It's sort of the responsibility I feel because I have been given 23 years, and that's a gift," Berg said. 

Loundy was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and had a mastectomy. She felt alone until she participated in the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk at Nathan Benderson Park that fall. The walk inspired her to form her own team and has since been raising money to support the American Cancer Society.

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Loundy and University Park's Eileen Cantarella's team, Answer to Cancer SRQ, is working to raise $100,000 for a second year in a row to fund a research grant that explores the relationship between aging and metastatic breast cancer. The grant is a four-year commitment to support Dr. Ana Gomes at Moffitt Cancer Center. 

"On one side, it's daunting. It's a lot of money," Loundy said. "But on the other hand, it's very rewarding to know we can do that and to maybe some miracle, we could have one itsy bitsy little sliver in the process of curing cancer. That's how I look at it."

Loundy and Cantarella met with Gomes at the Moffitt Cancer Center last fall and were able to see her work firsthand. Loundy said Gomes' team is making progress.

"We left there feeling gratified these people were willing to devote their time and effort to doing this research," Loundy said. "It's one thing to raise money for cancer, but to know that every dollar we raise goes directly to her project without overhead and to know that at the end of four years, when she's done, we will have completed something is gratifying. How far she will have gotten her research remains to be seen, but at least we'll know for four years she was able to research this issue."

University Park is hosting its annual Pink Week, which is a week in October consisting of various activities to engage the community in fundraising efforts. From Oct. 21 to Oct. 26, residents will play golf, tennis, pickleball, croquet and more as part of Pink Week.

The Meadows Country Club, Tara Golf and Country Club and Temple Emanu-El all are working in partnership with Cantarella and Loundy to support their efforts. 

Kern-Kolquist also is grateful for the efforts of her Rosedale community. 

In 2012, Kern-Kolquist felt a lump in her breast while taking a shower four months after a mammogram. She had it checked a week later and received the heartbreaking news that she had invasive carcinoma. 

The diagnosis shocked her. She didn't have any genetic mutations known for breast cancer. 

"It's just a very freak thing that I am triple negative," Kern-Kolquist said. "You go through that fear of the unknown."

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As a snowbird, she decided to tackle her treatment in Florida rather than Minnesota, working with doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. 

She had a lumpectomy, but the doctors said they didn't have clear enough margins, so she had another lumpectomy. She had extensive chemotherapy and radiation. 

The following three years were filled with fear that her cancer would return as the first three years is when it is most probable for reoccurrence. Each visit every six months was daunting, but it never came back.

Kern-Kolquist wants to give back, especially knowing one in every eight women encounter breast cancer in their life. 

Rosedale is hosting its annual Play for Pink, which includes a fashion show, golf tournament, silent auction and tennis tournament. Last year, the community raised $35,000 for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. 

"This is going to war with cancer," she said. "There's a lot of ways to approach cancer. You can cry about it, you can swear about it, you can pray about it, but what Play for Pink does is gives us an opportunity to work together, having fun and raising dollars for the organization to fight it."