In the fight against cancer, this weekend more than 1,000 runners and walkers will step up for Stefanie’s champions.
If you’re wondering who they help when they pound the pavement, all you have to do is go to the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center to find out.
Susan Zanner met Stefanie briefly in a chance encounter right after a doctor told her she had breast cancer.
“As my tears appeared, she reached for my hand and said, ‘You’ll be ok,’” said Zanner, who apologized to Stefanie. “And I said I’m so sorry I bothered you, and she said, ‘Don’t you understand? That’s why I’m here.’”
Zanner shared the story in a newspaper letter-to-the-editor. It inspired the title of a book about Stefanie and her husband Chris’ journey with her.
Those four words on the cover – That’s Why I’m Here – crystallize a mission born in life and continued in her memory.
It plays out every day at the Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Center where Susan and so many other women go for a range of reasons.
There are the preventative tests that can catch cancer in its infancy. And for women with a diagnosis, there are life-saving treatments and life-extending trials.
It’s all about giving patients the ability to move forward. Money raised in Stefanie’s name and through her foundation makes that happen – and that’s what Step Up does.
“The Spielman Foundation absolutely supports science,” radiologist Dr. Julia White said. “This really comes out of a single woman’s experience making something so enduring for so many women who have gone through a similar experience.”
Most of those women never met Stefanie. But Zanner did, and will never forget their one conversation.
About a decade later, she still lives with breast cancer. That *living* is the key.
In Zanner you see the research and care Stefanie championed. It’s right there in the time she gets with her husband, her children and her grandkids.
“When I’m out there and it’s a beautiful blue-sky day, and I’ve gotten on skis or done something remarkable, I will say ‘Thank you, Stef’ because I think she’s there with me,” she said.
Susan writes about her journey with an eye on guiding others. You can read her blog posts on Caring Bridge.
She will be at Step Up for Stefanie’s Champions Saturday morning – helping raise money for research and the place that’s helped her.
You can still register for the run/walk to assist in the fight at this link: go.osu.edu/stepup.
