Making Strides 2026 - The best moments

Yeah, you know, we're going to talk to Amy here in just a second because she's busy getting ready. But we do want to say that some people, when they come out, go all out, shall we say, Steph? And Janet Bala is the perfect example of going all out. Janet, before we talk to you, can you just show us what this costume does really quick? So the wings go up. You got some little smoke coming out of there, too? This is so beautiful. I told you. It's Halloween. Not only does Janet go all out for this beautiful parade, but she also has her own company where she makes wigs for survivors. Janet, before we go, can you just tell us the reason why you do this for people? I've been a cosmetologist for 48 years. It's been a long time. And... I worked in entertainment for a very long time and I decided to get out of entertainment and I wanted to do something that was more purposeful. So I started creating wigs for cancer patients to make it look like they never lost their hair So they could walk around and have the confidence back going through chemo like no one's staring at them going, oh my God, you're going through cancer. They can live a normal life, have normalcy back because what they go through losing their hair is actually more traumatic to them than the cancer itself. Dana, you're the ultimate supporter today and we can't wait to talk to you more. Okay. Thank you so much. Good to see you. Everybody's getting pictures with her. Amy's also out here. Everybody's getting pictures of Amy as well. So let's check in with Amy Kauffelt. She is out here somewhere on the grounds, probably amongst her 10,000 friends. Amy, send it over to you. I see you guys, actually. I'm right over here, John. Listen, I have found two of my favorite people on the planet, two of my lifesavers this morning with Orlando Health. I am joined right now by Dr. Jeff Smith, who was my surgeon as I went through the cancer process, and also my oncologist, Dr. Nikita Shah. So very special for me to be out there with these two people this morning. And Dr. Smith, I'm going to start with you. First of all, thanks for being here early. This is such a special day for women and men who go through breast cancer in this process. What is it like for you to be out here? How do you feel about coming out here, seeing probably many of your patients who come up to you and say thank you? Yeah, we're honored to be a part of this event. It's just an incredible event. It's one of the largest in the country. For me, this event really represents so many things that we hope to inspire our patients that are going through this. First, a walk is just, it's a great community event and it really symbolizes the journey that cancer patients go through. There's certainly landmarks but it's a long process and for us to show support for those that are going through this treatment is really pretty remarkable. The second thing is walking is great exercise. Women who exercise are significantly less likely to develop cancer and those women that have breast cancer that walk or exercise have significantly less likelihood of cancer coming back. So this is a great event for that and then finally the the money that's raised From this event, I'm told this year that it's been over a million dollars, that that money goes towards research and for support for cancer patients that are going through their treatment. And so it's just a great event all around and one that we continue to want to support and help out. We are very excited about that number. A little over a million dollars right now and hoping to go higher. Dr. Smith, thank you. Dr. Shaw, I know for you too, very special to see some of your patients as you are here today. What does it mean to you when they come up to you and just say thank you? Thank you. And great to see you here, doc. And thanks for supporting us. It is so nice to see patients outside of the office, outside of the examination gowns. So and, you know, everybody comes out dressed in pink. I mean, I see. Women wear the most exotic, most unusual stuff, and that's what this is all about. Like Dr. Smith said, it's a journey. We are here to help them through that journey and whatever it takes. These are the little wins that we all take as we go along. Absolutely. I want to just thank you for everything you do to support women in our breast cancer journey. And Dr. Smith, same to you because I'm so grateful to you guys. If it weren't for these two, I wouldn't be here. So very grateful to them and Orlando Health and the great work that they do to support their patients. And David Martin is here as well. I saw him earlier. He's walking around with Paulo. And, of course, we love David. And one of my best supporters, David, I love you. Thanks for being part of Amy's Army this year. Love you too, Amy. Absolutely. Would not miss it, Amy. Thank you for the invite. And speaking of women who know what you went through, I've got four of them right here. They're part of the Warriors on Water. Good morning, ladies. How are you? We're great. Sally, what are Warriors on Water? We're the Central Florida Dragon Boat Team. We're all breast cancer survivors. We go from age 30 all the way up to 80. And we always welcome new members. Any survivor that wants to come join our team, we're... Here on Lake Fairview in Winter Park. So this is a dragon boat group. You travel around the world with friendly competitions. And you just got back from where, MaryBelle? France, Aix-les-Bains. Oh, was that enjoyable? Oh, that was amazing, beautiful. My first trip up there in France, and it was just out of this world. Now, you've been doing this walk, this race, this run, for how many years? Oh, I don't know, as long as I can remember. We've been around since 2009. Since 2009. And what's on your hands, Kim? Boxing gloves. I fight. You fight like a girl and you've been doing it for how long? How long have you been cancer-free? Ten years. Ten years. How about you? Twenty. Sixteen. And who's on the end here? Julie, ten years. Congratulations to all of you. I love the fact that we're here together. And so when you come down year after year, and you're part of vendor row here, what goes through your mind when you see the people start to show up for the race? You know, it's the amount of people, you know. When you're a survivor and you see all the support you get at these kind of functions, it really means a lot. It does, absolutely. Well, we are thrilled to be here with all of you this morning. I hope we have a great time. We're going to start the race at what time? Nine o'clock. Nine o'clock. We'll see you here live on Fox. Hannah, back to you in the studio. This is our big annual event. We're so excited to be out here. We're making strides against breast cancer. And this is a morning of recognition and a morning of inspiration. And We've already talked to so many people and it hasn't even gotten really started yet. This is huge. Yeah, it's always such an uplifting and joyful event because we celebrate those who are still fighting the fight, who have won the fight, and we've met really a lot of inspirational people. Yeah, and one person from Orlando, Sivan, wants to share her story. Sivan, you're a survivor. Yes, I am a survivor. You'd mentioned that you've been out to the event a couple times, or you were thinking about coming out to the event, but you were still in the midst of it. This is your first year here. Yeah, this is the first year here. I didn't have it in me to come at the beginning. It was still a little too fresh, but now I am stronger than I was before and ready to just kind of celebrate with everybody and bring more awareness to the cause and help women just... Be aware of their bodies. Well, you've got the whole family here. You've got the support crew. Morning. Morning. Craig here. Craig. Hey, good morning. What's your name? Landon. Landon. And what's your name? Noga. Oh, right. The mom. The mom. So it's. You're fighting this, you're surviving this now, you're inspiring, and you had your family behind you for this entire thing as the support. Yeah, I mean, they were my support system throughout the whole thing. I don't know how I would have done it without them. Every step of the way, they uplifted me, they encouraged me, let me rest, which is huge. Yeah, it was team effort, for sure. Well, thank you for sharing your story. I really appreciate it. Nice to meet you as well. Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thank you. All right, well, this... Sivan's story is one of so many and a reminder that breast cancer affects everybody, both the person fighting it, but also the family and the support. That's a good one. Welcome back to downtown Orlando. It's my sincere honor and pleasure to introduce you to a familiar face here on Fox 25, Larissa Leon, evening anchor on the weekends in particular. And you report during the week. How are you, my friend? I'm doing so wonderful, so beautiful. The sea of pink eyes. Absolutely gorgeous. So excited to be here today. Yeah, just a sea of Pink indeed. And to my right, someone we just met. Say hello to Rolando. He comes from Puerto Rico. You live here in Orlando, I presume now, right? That's correct. You've got the pink tutu. You're ready for the walk here. Who is in the carriage that's stealing all the attention? So Mr. Oliver is my doggie, had four months ago. I'm walking with him today. And who are you walking for, Rolando? So I work for AdventHealth, and you can see me. So I have a really big group today. So we want to walk for the cancer patient. Good. You have fun, whatever you do. All right, off you go with Oliver. Good luck. He's going to walk for AdventHealth, Larissa. Speaking of AdventHealth, the timing's perfect to show something that we've been listening to all morning, the sweet sound of that bell. Yeah, it's so beautiful. The ribbon, that's flowers. Are those real flowers over there? They are flowers. And you're inviting all cancer survivors to come up and ring that bell? Absolutely. And how many rings have you had this morning? So far, we had five this morning. Isn't that great? But you're gonna have a lot more than five all morning long. Oh, yeah. If you're watching us and you can see us, come on down. And if you're a survivor as well, ring that bell. Larissa, we've got to toss it out to break, but we're back with much more coverage here live from Lake Eola for Amy's Army, back in a moment. One thing we talked about earlier today was one in seven women will find out that they have breast cancer and most do not have a family history. Raquel has been a friend of ours for decades and I just found out that Raquel, you also had breast cancer a couple of years ago. How did you find out? I found out with a, I first had a mammogram which was totally clear and then I found out after I had an ultrasound because I have dense breast tissue so I pushed for that ultrasound which I suggest everybody who has dense breast tissue does. And it was that that found it. And thank God, because it detected it early. So again, no history in your family. This had to be a shock to you and your daughter right over here. Had to be a shock to everybody, I assume. It was. It was. It was not fun to find out. But I'm here now. Raquel, I also want to talk to you just about your journey, getting past. Breast cancer, now as a breast cancer survivor. What was it like, especially as a mama, as you have your daughter right here getting through that? Well, I knew it was important to set a good example for her, and I just wanted to share a vision of being optimistic and positive during this time and showing her you can survive something like this. And you did it, girl. I did. You did it. And by the way, I want to introduce you to Ainsley. So this is Raquel's daughter. Clearly you can tell. Ainsley, you chose... Your specific sorority at UCF, for what reason? Because our philanthropy is breast cancer awareness, and I want to do anything that I could to be able to help out and make it one in eight, none in eight. What do you have to say to your mom today? I am so proud of you. You made it, you did it, and we're here, and we're going to go on a little hot girl walk, and have fun. And I'd love to, with the whole sorority, so all the Zetas around here, Hi, ladies, good to see you all. So it's great to see a group getting involved like this, too, because they're not experiencing this yet, but it helps them raise awareness, too, right? Yes, yes. Awareness is key. It saved my life. It wasn't a fun year. I'm not going to lie. It was a long road to home. I am so grateful for Orlando Health. I got my surgery there, my chemo, my radiation, my immunotherapy. It was one full year of not fun-ness. But at the end, I am here to talk about it. And early detection, key. Always good to see you. Glad you're out here today. Glad you're healthy today too. Ladies, thank you so much. Good to see you guys. Thanks for being out here today. Alright, we're gonna get on to the next amazing story here at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in just a moment. We are celebrating 30 years, by the way, here at Lake Eola. We'll be right back. Good morning to you. It's a pleasure and an honor to be down here with a lot of friends that we've seen year after year and new friends like Sylvia. How are you doing this morning? I'm glad. Happy to be here. How are you? Oh, we are also happy to be here. You are a big fan of the Good Day Orlando show. You've told us that. We're thrilled that you're down here as well. Who are you walking for, Sylvia? I'm walking for my sister, Sonia Torres, and a few friends of mine who have, you know, have the disease, who have cancer. Who currently are fighting it. Yes, yes, yes. Some of them are in remission, but some of them are good to go. Yeah. Yeah. Hello, what is your name? I'm Evelyn. Evelyn, who are you walking for? I'm walking for my niece, Felisa Lopez, and she recovered from breast cancer. Good. At the age of 50. At the age of 50? 50, 5-0. 50, 5-0, okay. Well, there's a bell here on the vendor row. They need a ring. Is she coming down, or are you just going to walk? No, I'm just going to walk. She's in Colorado right now. Very good. I hope she's watching. Lourdes, I got your name right. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. And you? Just fine. Who are you walking for? I'm walking for my sister, who passed away five years ago. I'm so sorry. Memories are alive here, though. No question about it. It's amazing how many people this disease touches. I mean, we're not talking about single digits anymore. No, no, no, no, no, no. Many, many. Even men. Even men. About breast cancer. Absolutely. Absolutely. What do you do? I am a substitute teacher in Osceola County. A sub teacher. Yeah. A former spirit agent. Oh, nice. Very good. Okay. Well, yeah. I understand. Got to find the jobs. I understand. It was a pleasure to talk with you ladies. Have fun on the walk. Thank you. Very good. We'll see you out there. Yes, sir. Thanks for watching. Thank you. Something very special here. An old friend of ours. Janet. How are you? Great to see you. Good to see you. I'm going to break here. How do I describe it? Flight of the Phoenix. I love it. A breast cancer survivor. No, actually a custom wig specialist for cancer patients. Very good. We met last year. You had an equally incredible outfit, so you top yourself every year. Yes, and I don't think I can outdo this one, so I'm going to have to take it around the block next year. I've got nine costumes that I need to kind of recycle. Because this one took eight months, so the wings go up and down. Beautiful. You look gorgeous. It's in tribute to all the survivors and the ones that didn't make it. It's my tribute to them. Understood. Thanks for joining us this morning. Thank you. We'll be back with more of you after the break on Good Day Orlando. We want to kick things off with a message of hope here at Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. We have an amazing family behind us, and we'd like to introduce you to Carleen. Thank you. Carleen is cancer. And we are hearing so many stories just like this this morning. Yeah, and you see right there it says, Survivor. How do you feel? I feel amazing. I feel amazing because I was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer. I had two daughters during the time of the diagnosis, and I am a believer of Jesus Christ. I love Him with all my being. I told him what to do, and he told me not to do anything. I didn't do any chemo, any radiation. I finally got my tumor removed this year, April, and all of the cancer was still in the duct, and the invasive cancer that they found was the size of a dot of a pen. Because of Jesus Christ. There you go. Congratulations. Their family's here. There you go. So these are the kind of stories we're hearing today. We're at the Star Line, and it's just a start for a lot of people today because they are being cancer-free, and we have much more to come on that. We've got the good folks from Advent Health right here today. They have this amazing booth set up with a bell. And when you hear the bell ring, it's always a special moment, Steph. So right now I'm here with Brittany Flores. She is an incredible local survivor. And we just ran in here, Brittany, and asked you, would you mind sharing your story with us? Yes. So I was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 2023 of May. It was a preventative surgery that was happening where breast cancer was found. So I'm so overwhelmed by any and everything that's happening. Went through chemo now four years and cancer free. How do you feel today being here surrounded by all these women? Oh my gosh, my heart is so overjoyed, I'm so overfilled with joy, and ringing the bell just means so much to me. Would you mind sharing that with us? Yes, let's do it. Hang on, wait, wait, no, don't do it yet, okay? Oh, John's holding us back. Hey guys, we're about to get a bell ring right here, we've got a survivor over here! Let's hear it! Alright, Queenie! Let's do it! Alright! We're going to get to David Martin now. We've got more incredible stories coming up in just a moment. Thank you very much. Hello, hello, Stephanie. Thank you, John. It's my pleasure to introduce you to Nicole. Hi, Nicole. How are you? Hi, I'm great. How are you? Well, I stopped along Vendor Road because you all have cupcakes on the table. What on earth? What's the story with the cupcakes? Well, we are part of Dr. Anu Sehgal's program. She's the chair of American Cancer Society, and our surgery scheduler actually made these cupcakes for our patients. I love it. And people are getting a little sugared up before the race? Yes, getting everybody energized to walk three miles. How many years have you done this? This is my fourth year. Crowd's growing every year. Every year, it grows bigger and bigger, and over a million dollars this year, which is great. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. So when you see all these folks coming down to Lake Eola, what goes through your mind, what goes through your heart? Just, let's stomp out breast cancer, let's take care of our women, let's get checked every year. Thanks for being out here. Yeah, thank you so much. Thanks for keeping our walkers and our racers hydrated and satiated with a lot of sugar. I want to introduce you to the Unstoppables. Hello there, Susan. How are you? I'm fantastic. How are you this beautiful morning? I am great to be here with you. So tell us who you're with. I am the team captain for the Unstoppables. And you are the number one what? The number one... Family team. Friends and family. You've raised a lot of money. No question about it. Over $40,000. And who are you all striding for this morning? Myself. I'm a 14-year survivor and this year we lost our good friend, Joan. It's a small circle, while there are a lot of people here, the repeats come, we get to know each other, it's familiarity, isn't it? It is. And it really is a wonderful community for the survivors and the women that are going through it. We just stick together and we support each other, and when you leave here, there's hope. There is, and a lot of love. Susan, thanks for joining us. Thank you. Have a great day. You too. This is our annual event, and we have regulars. Come on in. Come on in. Tell us. This is the 10th year, right? Your 10th? Ninth year. Ninth year. 10th year as a survivor. Oh, wow. A 10-year survivor. Yes. All right. Tell me your story. Why do you come out every year? I come out every year because I want to help promote other people that are going through this. My trip wasn't as bad as many. I belong to a dragon boat team and we're all breast cancer survivors. Dragon boating, by the way, is awesome. I did that briefly, and it is a workout. It is a workout, but it's also a support group. We have survivors all the way from age 30 all the way up to 79, I believe, as our oldest paddler. And we just got back from Aix-les-Bains in France. To compete. Yes, doing our participatory race, but we compete. So you got the boxing gloves on. Absolutely. We fight like girls. But we beat cancer's butt. Sea of survivors, how are we feeling this morning? It is my sincere honor and pleasure to be standing right here with these ladies on my left. Simona, you are the 2026 Hope Ambassador. What's that mean exactly, Simona? I am part of such a special group of women. It's part of the American Cancer Society, and we're the Hope Ambassadors. It's about 12 of us, and we're driven to raise money and funds for the American Cancer Society, finding hope and a cure, hopefully, one day for cancer. And you are how many years a survivor? Seven years. Yvonne, how are you? I'm doing awesome! How many years have you survived this? Ten years! You're walking for yourself. Anybody else this morning? Yes, I'm walking for my friend here, Venice. I'm walking for my cousin Stephanie, my cousin Rhonda, my aunt Nell, my mother. I'm number five survivor on my mother's side of the family. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, indeed. Venice, you just mentioned you. How are you? Yes, I'm good. How many years are you surviving? Nine years. Months. So, yeah, I recently found out. Months. I am so glad you're here this morning. We're all walking for you. Yes. Congratulations. Amazing. Another survivor here. Am I right? Your name? Allison. And how many years have you survived? One year. One year. Another new one. Wow. Good for you. How's it feel to be here right now? Oh, it's so exciting. Yeah. And I'm here with my best friend. And you are also a survivor. Yes. My name's Molly. And how many years have you survived this? One year as well. One year. So you did not do this last year, I presume. You did not? We did. You did. Oh my goodness and so how are you feeling versus last year versus today? It's a big time of reflection I feel like you know to see where we were last year I was actually looking at pictures of us last night and where we were last year to this year. It's been really amazing to see how much we've overcome in the past year. I'm so glad we're all vertical and happy this morning. Are we all fed and hydrated? 26 years. 26-year survivor. What's your name, ma'am? Dorothy. Beautiful. This is what it's about here at Lake Eola this morning. We are starting to race here in about 33 minutes. Are you ready? I'm ready. It is the Halloween version of Making Strides today. Look at that. Everybody's decked out in pink, costumes all over the place. And the number you said a second ago, 45,000 people, one of the biggest walks, if not the biggest, in the entire country right here in downtown Orlando today. I think we hear the numbers and we go, oh, it won't be me. But just a reminder that over 300,000 women every single year in the United States are diagnosed every year. And we have three amazing women behind us right now. Let's do the reveal. All right. Hello, ladies. Three survivors right here. So we've got Marcy, Allie, and Jennifer. And actually, they're a group of friends. So Marcy, how did you guys meet? We all met through work. We worked together at Marriott Vacations for quite some time. And why? What did you all come out to support, by the way, as a giant group? Oh, it's just a lot of fun to get together with friends, celebrate everything we've been through and support others. Marcie, would you mind sharing your story with us? Yeah, my story was common. I was young. I got diagnosed with stage one breast cancer just through scans. And you'll get your mammogram. And you're here today? Yes. And where are you on your journey? I'm healthy. I'm done. She's done, folks. I also want to talk about the shirts here. Now you designed the shirts, right? Okay, so explain the shirts you have going on right here. So it's a push for a cure, good friends fight together. So it's just basically saying how, you know, we all got together and we had so many friends and family just around us helping us during our fight. And really that's what it's about because the whole group just came forward, family and friends, and I know it makes it so much easier when you have a group like this behind you too. Woo-hoo! I said it makes it so much better to go through it when you have a group here. Oh my gosh, it just makes it amazing. The support is overwhelming, it really is. We have three survivors here. Yay! Making strides in downtown Orlando. Behind me, the start line, and behind me, a lot of people very excited this morning to be here. Hello, Jose, how are you? Oh, I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me. I can't believe I'm here today. Why? Because I'm doing this with my grandma, who's a breast cancer survivor. She's been, it's been like that for two years now, but she's alive and well. Beautiful. Can we get a round of applause for survivor grandma, Monica Hicks? I'm so glad to still have her in my life. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Ever since I was a little baby, she's been here all of my life. And every day I'm grateful that she's here, especially when she cooks dinner for me. She has the best cooking ever. I don't know how I'll ever manage one day, but the best I can do is learn. I love you so much. Well said, Jose. God bless both of you. Thank you very much for spending some time with us, Monica and Jose. Well, I have found the finest looking group of people here on the streets of Central Florida, right here in the Fox 35 crew. Amazing, do they look this morning complete with the dog and of course that sign we all signed. Who are we walking for? Who are we racing for? We put it into ink, permanent ink because it matters not only on paper but in our hearts and our minds as well. We got all kinds of folks. I want to talk to you too. Hello, hello. How are you? Come on here. A lot of breast cancer survivors here. What is your name? My name is Janice. And how many years have you been a survivor? 13 years. Wow. Now, have you ever done the race four years in a row? Four years. Fantastic. Wait, wait, wait. What? She raised the second to highest money last year. Yep. Yeah. Who are you all with? Oh, my God. Officially give us a time to start yet. Have you heard it? About four minutes. Oh, okay. Four minutes. All right. Is anybody... Team Little Bit? Yeah, okay. Team Little Bit? All right, T.L. here is on the backpack. Team Little Bit. Are you also a survivor? I am a provider for survivors. We're about to push the button. You're a survivor. How many years? Eight years survivor this year. Let's hear it, let's hear it. Wait, wait, wait, wait. I heard that revving. Wait, on the count of three, I want you to rev that again, please. Ready? Go ahead. Who's riding with you? Just me. Just you. And you're kicking it off, right? Absolutely. Do you know when you're starting? As soon as the police officer tells me to go. Okay, we better get out of the way then. We have the police officer... Wait, wait. John Brown and Stephanie Rios. When's this thing starting? That's us, right? Okay. That's what they tell me. What? Okay, very good. That's good. I'm not sure. Hey, how are you? What's your name? My name's Kara. How you been? Kara, it's great to see you again. I saw you last year, didn't I? Yeah, I did. So who's kicking off the party today? I don't know. You are? I guess we're getting close, sir. I know, right? All right. Fundraise against breast cancer yet, with now donations totaling well over a million dollars. Wow. You did that. All right, we should just be seconds away right now from start. Let me check the time. Let's see. All right. It's 9 o'clock, you guys. Are we ready? You stayed at the start line and made everybody come to us. Yes. Well, good morning to you, everybody. If you're just waking up, this is a scene in downtown Orlando, Florida. One of joy, one of hope, one of memories, many smiles. This is terrific. You are looking at making strides. How are you this morning? I am walking for my girl, Deanna. Beautiful. Thank you so much. May she rest in peace. Good morning, ladies. Pillar of fire. I think this is good. He's the best ever dentist. Go to him. Greenberg. Free advertising. What do you know? Beautiful. Some of these survivors and some of these folks who have not made it have huge friends, group of fans that are out here watching for them. Oh my God, before I take you, look at this. What on earth? Now that is a costume, to end all costumes. How are you? I'm good. How are you? What do you call this getup? It's all the pink I could find. It's fine. I'm walking for my Aunt Jan and my wife and my mother are both survivors. Good for you. God bless you. Thank you very much. And you got a dog with you. I like the dog. Beautiful. I wish it was. Bodyguard. Hannah, what do you think of that getup? All the pink you could find in the city. You took it all. Thank you so much. Good morning to you. I see a lot of doggies. Beautiful dog. Nice dog. A lot of well-behaved pooches and a lot of great people. Good morning, everybody. Hello to you. Lots of folks telling us personal stories. Good morning. How are you? Who are you walking for? I I'm walking for my grandmother, Juanita, who passed away at 63. I'm so glad you're here again on year eight. Thank you. Enjoy the walk. Beautiful outfit, by the way. Lots of folks. Hey there. Oh, hello again. How are we feeling today? We're doing great, man. Thank you so much. Simone, you're back into the race. I'm back. Yes, I'm going to finish this. You've got coffee? Yes, coffee, Starbucks. Okay, you are all set. Have fun. We'll see you at the finish line, all right? Wow. Hello, how are you? I'm from Delaware, and they're walking for you? Yes! Are you my survivor? Yes! What's your name? My name is Linda. Linda, how proud are you of this? This is fabulous. We'll get on now. We'll see you at the finish line. Linda Strong. All right. Well, we're going to send it back to you, Hannah. This is a sight to behold. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That is unforgettable, isn't it? I love it so much. Sure is. Some friends we've made along the way. Speaking of sunshine. Yes, exactly. She really is. Yes, you really are a ray of sunshine. This is Carol. She's a 12-year cancer survivor. She's got her husband and her son behind the camera, too, but Carol, tell us a little bit about your story. Well, it didn't run in my family, and I found it during a mammogram. And I said, let's just get it done. And so I got it checked in October. I had a biopsy in November. And then I had the surgery in December, 12 years ago. And ever since then, it's been great. So why do you come out here every year? I love to support everyone who's still going through it. And... I want to be there for everyone that needs any help. What does it mean to have your husband and your son here supporting you? It's wonderful. I love that they're here. My son's girlfriend's work is the one we're walking for at Ajax, so it's been wonderful. We love that. We are so proud of you and excited for you that you're here and you have such a great support system. You really are a ray of sunshine. We love this. This is what it's all about. This is what it's all about, having a support system and uplifting others, and is there anything you want to tell people at home who maybe haven't gotten checked, or a message you want to tell them? Yeah, so it didn't run in my family. I'm the youngest of seven, and I have a huge family, and when I was young, like 19, I thought I had a lump, and I went to the doctor, and she's like, nope, you don't have a lump, but when you turn 40, start going every year, and thank God she told me that years ago, and I just kept going, and... They found one. Well we're so happy that you fought and won this battle and you're here helping others so thank you so much Carol for sharing your story. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, Carol. Making strides against Breast Cancer Walk. But I think something that's touched my heart the most, John, is the fact that we have high schoolers here right now. Yeah. Lake Highland Prep actually out here today performing right along the route. It had been a great entertainment for the people walking, and I'm going to let you talk to this young lady. I'm going to go find another crew right now, okay? Absolutely. So we've got Julia here, and she happens to be a senior. Julia, I want you to tell me again who you are walking in honor of today. I'm walking in honor of my best friend. My mother, who passed away from pancreatic cancer, and my grandpa, who had passed away from complications with cancer. And what kind of music are you all playing for us to really, I mean, honor these survivors? I mean, we're playing, this is a jazz band, but we're playing more pop tunes today, and our goal is just to make the survivors and their family really happy. Julia, you're bringing so much joy. We thank you for doing that. And John has found, I think, someone amazing, too. Yeah, we've got this big crew right here. Hey, guys! Okay, I'm going to dance on this name very gently. It is Melissa's Boo, as in Halloween, Bee Crew. I did good, okay? I got that right. Okay, we did good. Okay, so where's my survivors, first of all? I know we have three survivors over here. We have Nelson right here, but I want you to take a look at the jacket there. So explain what's going on here. Yeah, so these are all the survivors in our family that I'm representing today on this walk here. So these are all survivors, but you have two, four, six, eight in your family alone. Eight in my family alone, sir. So I hate to say it's not abnormal in your family. You've had a lot of this, but you've got a lot of survivors. That's got to bring a lot of hope. It does, it does. You know, cancer can test patients. And it can test your faith, but you know, with family, and we have a great family here, everybody, and strength and hope and just prayers keeps it all together for us. A lot of times, we've seen the numbers today, most people who get breast cancer is not in their family, but does it help that some of your family members have gone through this before to help the others through the process? Yes, we believe so. You know, it gives that peace of mind to know that others have went through this journey, and we're here to help them in any way we can. So we're going to try this one more time. Come in here, young lady. All right, so what name we got there? Melissa. She is a warrior. I love her so much. She's one of the best moms I've ever seen in my whole entire life. She takes care of me. Strong, she's brave. This girl's a rock star. Okay, so very quickly. What you say, Amy, we're interviewing you because tell people one more time, you're a survivor, Amy. I am, yes, thank you. This is four years for me and it is honestly by the grace of God that I am here because I felt a lump. I went in for my mammogram and my mammogram didn't show anything. And so I, my... My advice to every woman is if you have dense breast tissue, make sure you ask for extra screening because a mammogram might not be enough. In my case, I had cancer in both breasts and the mammogram didn't see it. So it's really important that you know that they don't work well on dense breast tissue and half of all women have dense breasts. Amy, you're so good about getting the message out there. And I have to tell you, though, even as I'm talking to you, I'm getting emotional. You're getting emotional. What has this day meant to you? It means a lot because, listen, when I come out here, I'm out here with thousands of my pink sisters. I mean, there's nothing better than the camaraderie and being together, hearing that bell ring. Like you hear right now. Hearing the bell ring. Knowing that women are out here basically telling their survivor story and celebrating being a survivor and to the thrivers, the women who are living with breast cancer, God bless them. They need our prayers more than anyone because every single day they are just trying to get through the day. So that's why we're here. What a representative you are, Amy. We love you. You know, one thing very quickly, we just met a family down the road there. Eight people in one family have breast cancer. They're all survivors. But what I was thinking as I was talking to the family and the young girl is how much To have a group around you that's been through this and says there's hope, that is a big deal for you. Amen. It certainly is. And my sister and I were both diagnosed six months apart. So not only is she my true sister, she's my pink sister. There is something special about this community. And I would say, I tell Steph, it's like when you were pregnant, like you felt like everybody was pregnant. When you have breast cancer, you're shocked at how many people have breast cancer. It's so pervasive. So that's why it's really important that you do those checks. You're paying attention to your body. Men, too, because they can also get breast cancer. A lot of people don't know that. You just have to make sure that you are your own advocates. Absolutely. See you later. And days like today really do give you more hope for the future, too. They do. Because you've been talking all week. I can't believe it. A million dollars. Is that not amazing? Yeah, and then to see, I mean, we've done interviews the past month about all the strides, I mean, making strides, but the strides when it comes to research, too, there's going to be a day when this is very treatable just like that, we hope. That's right. We certainly hope so. And the research, the money that people donate to this cause every day is making it easier for the next woman who is diagnosed. So it truly is, like, this is what it's all about. We are here to make sure that the next woman who's diagnosed has an easier road than we did. And can I tell you a quick story? Because I went online yesterday and I just wanted to make sure that it was as easy as it was. I went on the AdventHealth website and they now have an entire system where you can get a mammogram in under 24 hours, Amy. That's right. Absolutely. And all the hospital, local hospital chains do the same thing. It's really important that you make those appointments. You talk to your doctor, whoever your provider is, make sure they know that you might need more than a mammogram. Maybe you need an ultrasound or an MRI and talk to your insurance. So we're going to meet everybody at the finish line in just a second. It's great to have you here, Jack. I love you all. I love you. Let's check in with everybody who came.