The Manhasset Women’s Coalition Against Breast Cancer hosted two events last week as part of its outreach program in support of breast cancer awareness and research efforts.
On Wednesday, the organization held its 17th annual Ladies Night Out at Leonard’s of Great Neck, and on Sunday supporters took part in the 15th annual 5K Family Walk/Run.
“This program is a neighbor helping a neighbor and a friend helping a friend and women helping women and our signature fundraiser,” said Marybeth Accurso, the coalition’s president. “It just moves everyone to be closer to each other.”
The Ladies Night Out event features a vendor’s boutique, silent auction and fashion show in which breast cancer survivors modeled clothing from Plandome Road store Gallery Couture.
“When the night was over and we were finishing up, one of the women said to me that this was the best day I’ve had In a long time, like it was the best day of her life, putting on these clothes and walking down the runway,” said Accurso. “It really makes you feel good about the cause and what you do.”
The Manhasset Women’s Coalition Against Breast Cancer is a volunteer, non-profit organization whose mission is to fund innovative research, increase awareness through education and provide support services to those with breast cancer and related diseases, coalition officials said.
The event’s featured speaker, Dr. Elizabeth Comen of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, was one of three recipients of fundraising money from the Manhasset Women’s Coalition Against Breast Cancer.
In her speech, Comen spoke of her work as a scientist pursuing a cure for breast cancer and her passion for laboratory research.
Mamta Tahiliani of the NYU Langone Cancer Center and Dr. Marc Symons of the North Shore-LIJ Health System’s Feinstein Institute for Medical Research will also receive funding from the organization.
Manhasset resident and breast cancer survivor Maria Troisi Mohan also spoke about her experiences with the illness, which was received with a standing ovation by the crowd.
“It’s super emotional because you’re sitting there and you’re seeing someone you’ve seen in the supermarket or local drug store and you may have known they have cancer or you may not have,” Accurso said. “The courage of these women to get up there and talk about their experiences and the roller coaster of emotion they take you through, you could just tell the women couldn’t get enough of her story.”
On Sunday, more than 1,000 runners donned pink t-shirts for the 5K, which began at 9:30 a.m. at the Mary Jane Davies Gazebo and extended up Plandome Road and down No. Plandome Court, through Heights Road and up Brookside Drive, across Stonytown Road and down Rockwood Road to Woodedge Road, down Pinewood Road and through Nassau Avenue to its finish near Park Avenue. Prior to the start of the run, the coalition raffled of a $10,000 prize.
“Some people take it seriously and run for a serious time and some, like I have in the past, can bring a stroller and a number and you run the event,” Accurso said. “It’s a nice way to get everybody out.”
