When she lost her sister to breast cancer, Brinker decide she couldn't sit around and do nothing so she ran and brought thousands of other women with her.
Nancy Brinker knows how to make dreams come true.
In 1982, two years after her sister, Susan Komen, had died of breast cancer, Brinker woke up with a vivid image: a sea of women, wearing pink t-shirts, running. Brinker, who had recently founded the Susan G. Komen for the cure to fight the disease that took her sister's life, decided to follow her dream and organize a charity run.
That first Race for the Cure in Dallas in 1983 attracted 800 runners. Today, there are 120 Race for the Cure events held annually, with 1.4 million participants, making it the largest fund-raising event for breast cancer in the world. Through these events, Komen has raised more than $916 million for medical research, early-detection education, and health services, such as mammograms--all of which have improved survival rates and the quality of life of patients.
But the Komen races are more than fund-raisers--they are support groups. "I see the events as a bonding event, a celebration of survival," says Brinker, who herself battled breast cancer in 1985.
Brinker, who lives in Palm Beach, Florida, remains just as focused at finding a cure today as she was 25 years ago. She says she lives by the words of Nobel Laureate Marie Curie: "I never see what has been done, I only see what remains to be done."
Click here to return to the main Heroes of Running 2007 page.