2016 Komen Detroit Race for the Cure Raises Over $1M, Donates to Local Programs

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The 25th Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure, locally presented by Karmanos Cancer Institute in May, raised more than $1 million in net proceeds. After a needs assessment process, nearly $719,830 of the funds has been awarded to three Detroit-area breast cancer programs.

“Although we have come a long way since our first Detroit Race in 1992, our work is far from over,” says Brian Christy, co-chair for the Komen Detroit Race. “Our 2015 needs assessment on our Detroit service area (representing Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties) showed significantly higher incidence of late-stage diagnoses and deaths from breast cancer compared to the rest of Michigan. We are committed to help close this disparities gap…”

The Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services has been awarded about $63,825 from race funds, which will allow the facility to continue to offer one-on-one health education and free mammograms to low-income, Arab American women in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb communities.

More than $370,540 has been awarded to the Wayne County Breast and Cervical Cancer Control Program, which will allow for more breast screenings and help navigate women to Affordable Care Act programs.

A $462,000 Helping Hands grant to Karmanos Cancer Institute will continue to cover diagnostic and limited treatment for uninsured and underinsured women and men who are not eligible for support.

A crowd of 25,000 participated in the 2016 Komen Detroit Race, which started at Chene Park, located at 2600 Atwater St. The announcement about the funds was made on Sept. 21 during the Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure Friends for the Cure and Teams Celebration.

The event featured a panel of breast cancer experts from Karmanos Cancer Institute and Wayne State University School of Medicine, and information was shared on Susan G. Komen’s goal to reduce U.S. breast cancer deaths by 50 percent in 10 years.

In an effort to reach this goal, Dr. Komen Scholar Lisa Newman, with Henry Ford Health System, will receive $600,000 to compare gene expression in triple negative breast cancer samples from patients from west Africa, east Africa, African-Americans, and Caucasian Americans.

The Karmanos Cancer Institute has been the local presenting sponsor of the Komen Detroit Race since it began in 1992. Over the last 25 years, the Komen Detroit Race had raised and invested more than $29 million, and 75 percent of the net proceeds raised help support local breast cancer programs, while 25 percent funds national breast cancer research. To date, more than $27 million has been awarded to scientists to advance breast cancer research in Michigan.