Florida Catholic | Women Race For Cancer Cure

Women race for cancer cure

When a friend of hers died of breast cancer, Lisa Huetteman was moved to do something to help fund research for a cure.

JAMIE PILARCZYK | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 02.08.08

Project Cure

Contact Lisa Huetteman at
813-785-9768, or by e-mail at lisa@the-black-diamond.com.
Or go to www.ststephencatholic.org.

VALRICO | Lisa Huetteman was signed up to do the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation’s three-day, 60-mile race in 2006. A friend of hers had died of breast cancer and Huetteman felt moved to do something. But once she found out and confirmed that the Komen foundation has given grants to Planned Parenthood, she immediately changed her mind and so did her race partner, Mary Owens.

Though Komen’s grants to Planned Parenthood have been earmarked for breast cancer screening and care for low-income women, the women could not in good conscience in any way support the abortion provider, even indirectly.

“We said, ‘We can’t do that,’” said Huetteman. “Planned Parenthood money is used for good, but if one dollar went to the wrong cause, such as turning the lights on in one abortion clinic, then we couldn’t do it.”

Instead, they organized a three-day race of their own, got their school and parish, St. Stephen in Valrico, involved and raised $26,000 for H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa.

“You can make a difference and not let your values go,” Owens said.

Their hope is that other parishes replicate their success.

Last October, Huetteman joined eight others for the second annual 60-mile Project Cure, as well as 101 other walkers who joined them along the way. They raised more than $31,000 and combined with funds from the Lightning Foundation, donated $70,000 to Moffitt.

“We had lost three moms at (St. Stephen) school to breast cancer and I had lost my mom several years earlier,” Owens said. “When that happens, you feel like you have to do something. When you make a dish for dinner for a family, it didn’t feel like enough. What Christ calls us to do is turn our tears to action.”

The walk has grown to include the entire parish, with students participating in a youth walk and the Men’s Club hosting a parish picnic on the walk weekend.

“The Holy Spirit took a hold of it,” Huetteman said. “That’s what happened.”

Organizers found a neighborhood with an easy four-mile loop they walked five times in each of the three days. They started the first loop and ended the last praying the rosary. While Project Cure is now an annual event at St. Stephen, they hope other parishes replicate it and offer to help anyone interested in taking the lead.

Owens said Moffitt was chosen because it is on the forefront of finding a cure for breast cancer. However, other beneficiaries may be chosen in the future.

“We have a team of people that will help any parish do this,” Owens said. “We have two years of experience under our belts.”

Her kids, Elaine and Jacob, each walked 20 miles during Project Cure last October.

“It was hard but fun because I was with my friends and it was for a good cause,” said Elaine Owens, a St. Stephen’s seventh-grader.

“It was just really amazing,” agreed her mom.

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