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September 1, 2025 14 mins
Every year around the country, many thousands join the fight to end breast cancer, fund research, and support survivors through the Susan G. Komen Walks & Races. Sunday, September 7, Susan G. Komen celebrates the 35th year of Race for the Cure in New York City! For more on the event and the advancements made possible through decades of work and support, our guest is Stacie Spitzkoff, Executive Director of Susan G. Komen.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to get connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thank you for listening to the show. Every year,
around the country, many thousands join in the Fight to
end breast cancer, fund research and support survivors through the
Susan g Coman Walks and races. Next Sunday, September seventh,
Susan G. Comen is celebrating a huge milestone, the thirty
fifth year of the Race for the Cure in New
York City. We will talk about the event and the

(00:34):
advancement's made possible through the decades of work with our guest,
Stacy Spitzkoff, Executive director of Susan G Coman. Stacy Spitzkoff,
thank you for being on the show.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Oh, thank you so much for having me today. I
really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
You can find out more about the event coming up
again September seventh in Central Park at Koman dot org.
And let's start there. This is always a huge event.
On September seventh, we're back in Central Park with the
race day, the check in and just this huge fundraising goal.
What is the race day, like Stacy.

Speaker 3 (01:04):
Oh my goodness. The race day is such an incredible
opportunity to bring our community together. We have people that
have currently going through treatment, people that are survivors, those
living with metastatic breast cancer, all coming together with this
incredible support from the community, friends and family, corporate support.
So it's really wonderful. Pets are invited, super accessible. Yeah,

(01:28):
Central Park is amazing that you can have dogs at
the event as well. So it's really for everybody's friends
and family to be there, and it's an opportunity for
us to raise incredible awareness for what Coman is able
to do to support what the community is doing to
support people living with breast cancer. As you mentioned before,
it's thirty five years this race, so it's a little
bit of a retrospective too, like where have we come from?

(01:51):
For some people, this event is where they told their
families for the first time that they were diagnosed, or
they brought people together because they all wanted to rally
and support them, and this is where they've come together.
We have teams that have been with us for all
thirty five years, and we have so many new individuals
and teams participating this year. When people come, they get
to go meet our sponsors, they get to meet each other.

(02:13):
We have a special Hope Village for people that are
survivors currently going through treatment or living with metastatic A.
We remember ten so if we have people that have
lost somebody, they can bring a photo, they can leave
a message. It's just a place for them to step
away and really think about why they're there. We have
an incredible program, like a fifteen minute program just to
learn about the work that Coleman is doing to celebrate

(02:34):
our fundraisers and all that we've done to get to
race day. And then it's an accessible event, so there
is opportunity for people to race for those that love
to race their Central Park, but it's also for people
who want to walk and just be there with their
friends and family and co workers to enjoy. There's two
loops for the event, so you can do one loop

(02:55):
or two and really enjoy the event to your abilities.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Again, these races and walks are all over the country,
but we also people think about what you know, is
it doing locally? So how much has Coman been able
to invest in local breast cancer research in New York
City over all these years?

Speaker 3 (03:11):
So in New York City, COMEN has invested nearly fifteen
million dollars in local breast cancer research just in the
past thirty five years alone. That's one hundred and sixty
research grants that were made possible by the money COMAN
has raised from this incredible community that we're talking about
from events like this.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
What can you say about some of the work and
advancements that have been funded over time?

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Oh, my goodness, there's incredible research that's happening at our
institutions that's literally changing the way breast cancer is being treated.
It's improving outcomes so patients could live longer, better lives.
For example, back in nineteen ninety four, groundbreaking research showed
breast cancer can be passed from one generation to another
through genes. Today, we take for granted that a simple

(03:57):
blood test can identify people who have inherited genetic mutations
aren't an increased risk of breast cancer, and we are
a proud funder of that research. But we didn't stop there.
Research common funded at Columbia University, and while Cornell has
given us even more information about the role genetics plays,
We've learned that African American and Black women have genes

(04:18):
that make them more likely to have aggressive and deadly
breast cancers. These learnings are informing doctors about which treatments
will be most effective in treating a patient's cancer. We've
also learned that some patients can safely skip chemotherapy and
avoid chemotherapy side effects with no risk to their overall outcome,
thanks to research Comen funded at wild Cornell.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
That's an amazing one. That last one about being able
to skip chemo if you don't need it, things you
wouldn't have thought of so many years ago. It's funded
through the Race for the Cure. The next one is
coming up on next Sunday, September seventh, with a fundraising
goal of seven hundred thousand dollars. You can find out
more at Koman dot org slash Greater NYC Race. I'm
speaking with Stace Spitzcoff. She's executive director of Susan G. Coleman.

(05:03):
You are listening to get connected on one six point
seven light ifm I'm mina del rio. Susan G. Coman
also provides patient care such as Stacy Oh my goodness.

Speaker 4 (05:13):
So the patient care that we are able to offer
is a variety of services to help people access health services,
understand their diagnosis, navigate their treatment, and connect with local resources.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
We never want anybody to be alone. So it could
be as simple as calling for one call to get information,
and it could be staying with a patient navigator through
your whole cancer journey.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Talk about the patient navigators a little bit. I think
until you're in that position, you don't know how difficult
it is sometimes to navigate treatment and your doctors and
all the things that go along with being prepared and
getting all that information just under your belt.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
I mean absolutely so. People sometimes just need emotional support,
somebody that's not friend or family to talk to you
just about what's going on. Some times it's about navigating
the system, someone in to help guide them through the
web of medical appointments and just having that ability to
have somebody on the other end of the phone who's
got that up to the minute knowledge of what's happening

(06:14):
and to help guide you.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
Last year, I believe there were about fifteen hundred people
who reached out directly to Coman for help. I wonder
if you could tell us a little bit about them.
I think I'm curious about who they are, thinking that
they kind of come from everywhere because you never know
when you're going to need the help.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
I mean, that's just it. I think we're here for everybody,
and I think COMEN has really worked hard to be
accessible to all. Breast cancer does not discriminate, and we
want to make sure that we are there to support
people wherever they are. And I think you're talking about
some of the facts and figures. So last year we
provided financial disport to eight hundred and seventy four people

(06:55):
totally nearly three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. We never
want someone to have to just between getting their medication
and getting to treatment or putting food on the table.
We really want to make sure that we're there to support.
And that's another thing that those people on the other
end of the line are able to help people get.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
How does someone access the patient care center and assistance, So.

Speaker 3 (07:16):
That is a great question, and one thing I love
about this is no matter where you are in the country,
there's one phone number for you to call. It's one
EAT seven seven, go Coman, Goo, KO, M E N
and callers can remain anonymous if they want to, and
services are offered in both English.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
And Spanish as I'm speaking to you. By the way, Stacey,
you've seem like this is work that you take to heart.
Tell me a little bit about what drives you to
do this work.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
So I am incredibly fortunate. I've been with COMAN since
actually during the pandemic and the opportunity, I didn't get
to meet so many people in the community until the
pandemic passed and the incredible people that I've met currently
going through treatment, those sharing their stories, wanting to be
ambassadors for other people, working with community, working with corporate partners,

(08:08):
everybody really realizing that this disease affects so many people. Unfortunately,
with one in eight women that are going to be
diagnosed in their lifetime. It's not an if, but when
somebody is going to find somebody in their life that
are impacted. And I just feel so fortunate to have
the opportunity to work along such an incredible community through
COMEN and outside to really make sure that nobody's ever

(08:30):
alone through their diagnosis and that we continue to forge
forward and create hope while having the patient care center
to help people.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Now, So these events, since you mentioned community, these events
are about community, how it is being unified as a
community help in the larger picture with what Susan G.
Coman wants to do.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
So I think it helps in a couple of fronts.
So on the first is obviously the fundraising. The fundraising
is so important to all of the program services that
we've talked about, funding our research, funding the care center,
the advocacy work that Coman's doing. It can't get done
without these very essential funds. But it's also about raising awareness.
It's really important to COMEN that we have this community

(09:11):
to make sure that nobody is alone. Like I said before,
that if you find out that there's a suspicion of
a diagnosis, if you've been diagnosed, if you're a co
survivor or somebody supporting somebody through their treatment, that you
have places to go to get reliable information in quick,
real lifetime. I think it's really important that we offer

(09:34):
opportunities for people to volunteer and support men are impacted
by breast cancer, people that families and friends have been impacted.
It really it's their community that's supported. So I think
we're trying to build upon all of that. Community that
supports COMEN is incredible, but events like this bring community
together to show our breast cancer patients, that there's so

(09:55):
many people out there that are really there to make
sure that their lives are being improved with this research,
that they're just there to walk alongside them. And that's
really what this race allows us to do, is walk
alongside our community.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
This Susan G. Coleman, was founded in nineteen eighty two
by Nancy Brinker in memory of her sister. It was
forty three years ago she founded and again this is
the thirty fifth year of the walks in New York,
raising millions of dollars. What kind of a platform have
these decades of work given Susan G. Coleman to to
advocate and be involved in research and funding.

Speaker 3 (10:29):
So I think partially their reason Racism Walks have remained
like a cornerstone of our organization is that they bring
people together so no one faces breast cancer alone. And
then that gives us the platform. Even through you today
working with us, it allows us the opportunity to share
about what's coming up, what is here now to support people.

(10:50):
And I think again, I hate to keep talking community,
although we love ours, but that's what helps to continue
to raise the awareness. The advocacy we do all year round.
We go to DC once a year to advocate on
behalf of our patients and our community and invite them
to come. Our volunteers, our executive leader, volunteers, all of

(11:11):
these people in the community that help raise up Commen's
voice and raise the awareness for the work that we're
doing is so crucial and these events just give us
this opportunity to bring so many people together.

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Let's talk again about the race, which is next Sunday,
September seventh, Central Park at the Nounburg Bandshell. The race
check in is eight am and the race officially begins
about nine thirty. So two things, you don't have to
race it. You don't have to run. You can also walk,
you can bring your dog, yes, all these things. And
if you can't start at nine thirty, can you start
a little later in the day. Is it a whole

(11:43):
day event.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
So we probably wrap up around eleven eleven thirty, so
it is a little early. We're asking you guys to
get up early, come stretch with us. There's incredible music,
there's incredible volunteers, dancers, cheer teams, all of these things.
That's really worth getting up early. But if you truly
can't be there with us. You can be a virtual
participant and walk where you are. You can share a

(12:05):
photo on our Facebook page. You can get your friends
and family together and walk alongside us. Even if you
can't be their day of you can still register on
the website. You can still get an event t shirt.
We encourage you to raise awareness and funds for the event,
but we want to meet everybody where they are and
you can get involved any way that you want.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
And what have you heard over the years from people
about the best ways to fundraise?

Speaker 3 (12:28):
Oh, my goodness, so many. We've heard everything from bake
sales in your company's main area to people going on Facebook.
The more people you reach out to, the more yeses
you get, and you have to approach people multiple times.
So I would say that's the best things that we
can do is people will read your email or get
your phone call or text. But it's really about just

(12:51):
showing people that you're dedicated, that you're going to stay
on top of them, that you're going to encourage them
to join you.

Speaker 5 (12:56):
And that's really how we've seen the best fundraising happen.
Don't be sure, h is the short answer for that, exactly.
The twenty twenty five Race for the Cures in Central
Park on Sunday, September seventh. Anything else you'd like to add, Stacy, I.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
Think it's not too late to join us. We're one
week away. We do registration up through the day of
the event, So even if you wake up Sunday morning
and you're like, hey, I'd really love to come join
and support Comen, we welcome you to come be there
with us.

Speaker 2 (13:23):
I hope it's a great fundraising year. The website for
more is coman dot org slash Greater NYC Race. You
can find out more on that website, and our guest
is Ben Stacy Spitzkoff of Susan g Comen. Thank you
for being on Get Connected.

Speaker 3 (13:37):
Oh thank you so much. By bye bye.

Speaker 1 (13:40):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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