Compton, CA (The Bulletin) – The 14th Annual Compton Walk for a Cure brought out the pink on Saturday, Oct. 4. The yearly event, which was hosted at Centennial High School, is largely a celebratory gathering as family, friends and members of the community all joined in to help spread the word about getting early detection of breast cancer and other forms of cancer.
“I came out here to support a very good friend of ours, and also a co-worker,” Jackie Portill said. “I also have a sister who had cancer, and my father had cancer as well, and he passed away. So, I came here to support our friends and just everybody…all the women in general. It’s a good thing.”
The 14th Annual Compton Walk for a Cure was founded by Compton City Clerk Satra Zurita and her sister, former Compton City Councilwoman Janna Zurita. Satra Zurita, herself a breast cancer survivor, talked to The Bulletin about what this event means to the city of City and other surrounding communities.
“I’m extremely excited,” said Satra Zurita, who is also a member of the Compton Unified School District Board of Trustees. “This is year 14, and it gets bigger every year. The greatest thing about this…this is the importance of early detection, because breast cancer is a disease that can be treated successfully if it is detected early enough. We’re excited about providing the information. This is year 14. Year six, I got breast cancer, and I’m a testament to what early detection can do.”
Lisa McClelland is also a cancer survivor. Her story, though, revolves around the fact that she found out she had breast cancer after pausing on going to get her normal routine checkups. She wants other people, especially women, to know not to fall prey to the complacency of having to go in and get a mammogram done.
“I’m one of those who is guilty, first of all, of stopping getting mammograms because they hurt,” McClelland told The Bulletin. “And it was the idea that, ‘I’m good, I’m good each time.’ So I stopped getting them. And lo and behold, when I stopped getting them, is when, due to checking other health things, I was told, ‘Oh yeah, you have stage 2 breast cancer’ three years ago.”
The news left McClelland devastated. Her message to other women is not to shirk the responsibility of getting checked up.
“I had to undergo massive chemotherapy,” McClelland remarked. “This is my first year without any type of chemo. So I had to come and say, ladies, if you have it, if you don’t have it, get checked so you don’t get it. If you have it, keep fighting.”
Delores Pendergrass is a four-year breast cancer survivor. Pendergrass got inspired to support the cause when a relative of hers came down with the same disease. Now that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, Pendergrass feels an even greater obligation to share her experience with others, she said.
“Before I was diagnosed, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I became an ambassador,” Pendergrass said. “It meant a lot to me then, but now it means more to me because coming out here and meeting the other survivors and women who are going through it at the time, it just means so much because everybody is sharing their stories. It’s just a family event to me, and I love it.”
The aspects of community camaraderie and the information being passed out at the event are just some of the things that have attracted Pendergrass to come out and be part of it, she said.
“I like coming because of the awareness and the support that people can get and the resources that you can find,” Pendergrass.
That message is perhaps more essential for the Black community to adhere to, she said.
“For the black community, we don’t always get the information from our healthcare providers that we need,” Pendergrass said. “We’re at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to breast cancer research and even with the BRCA Test. Those tests were performed on all white women, not black women. So, coming out here to get more information about how black women can get resources and help for their particular kind of breast cancer is amazing, because it’s very important.”
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