ORANGE PARK, Fla. — Runners hit the streets of Orange Park this morning for the 9th Annual ‘Butterfly Race’, an event that celebrates National Cancer Survivors Day, which is officially June 4th.
Over 300 people signed up for the event, which held a 5k and a one mile fun run. To kick off the event, organizer released butterflies into the sky.
“The releasing of the butterflies is just amazing to watch them come out. It means a lot to me personally," Sally Clark, a two-time cancer survivor and event volunteer, said.
Sally Clark was first diagnosed with breast cancer 22 years ago. She underwent surgery, chemo and radiation and was cancer free for 20 years. Then in 2020, her doctors found a second tumor.
“She just felt something that was a little weird and if it weren’t for her, she said it was smaller, but if it weren’t for her, I would not have gone on to seek out further treatment and who knows what would have happened but I’m here today because of the mammograms," Clark said.
Advocating for early detection screenings, regular health checkups, and preventative healthy lifestyles is part of the mission of the Pink Ribbon Symposium who hosts the annual race.
“We said why not celebrate all cancer survivors, their caregivers, their friends, families, So we started this over nine years ago," Linda Sylvester, founder of the 5k event, said.
The buddy bus, a mobile health center that offer mammograms and education about breast cancer also stopped by the event, one of many stops planned around the first coast for the bus.