Thousands walk for breast cancer research at Jones Beach in one of nation's largest fundraisers to battle disease

Patty Sablesack from Deer Park, was at Jones Beach early Sunday, with a large group of friends and family members, to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society.

She was grateful that, 24 years ago, a then-new drug kept her alive after she was diagnosed with the disease.

The 66-year-old was part of a clinical trial for the cancer drug Herceptin, which is now a standard treatment. "It saved my life," she said, "and so we continue to walk, continue to raise money, to continue to find a cure."

Sunday was the 33rd annual Making Strides against Breast Cancer walk, which raises funds for research and supportive programming for cancer patients and their families. Walkers also participated in Central Park for the event, one of the nation's largest such fundraisers.

Organizers had raised $1.7 million as of Sunday morning out of a goal of $2.5 million. Participants, who included survivors, family members and advocates, walked a 5-mile loop from Field 5 to Field 1, or any portion of the route they chose.

Shellon Blackman-Lees, a four-year cancer survivor from Northport, was at Jones Beach along with a group of 28 friends and family members, "to fight the good fight" against breast cancer.

Blackman-Lees thanked her "dream team" of surgeons, doctors and nurses at Northwell Health, where she also works as a data analyst. Her message for others: "It’s very important to get screened, and consistently get screened," she said.

Janice Fana, 44, from Queens, and her siblings and other family members attended in memory of their sister, Melissa Banner, who died in April at age 48. Banner had been the chief of oncology at NYU and "went beyond what a doctor would do for their patients," Fana said. "If a patient couldn’t pick up their medication from the pharmacy, she would bring it to their home."

Banner had advocated for more research and to bring more awareness of breast cancer, Fana recalled, so she and her family were walking to continue that work.

Breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in the United States, according to the National Cancer Institute. This year an estimated 321,910 women and 2,670 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer is expected to account for 7% of deaths from cancer.

Survival rates have increased significantly over the past 40 years. Between 1975 and 2019, breast cancer mortality decreased by 58% among women age 30 to 79, thanks to earlier screening and advances in treatment, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Participants continued to stream toward the route as the sun rose higher, many wearing various shades of pink. Natasha Brown, 37, from Queens, held a pink banner aloft, and showed off the two medals around her neck, representing her fight as a two-year survivor. Today she will collect her third. "I walk for me as well as those who didn’t make it," she said, and for "my family members that have gone through it."

Brown was walking with her mother-in-law, aunt-in-law, and her daughter Amira, 7, among other family members. "I celebrate for those that are not here," she continued, "and those that live to tell the story."