24th Annual Women’s Only 5K Walk & Run

Tonya Bunch, Yvonne Allen, Julie Luck (news anchor with WFMY-TV, News2) and Gloria Wright. Photo by Charles Edgerton/Carolina Peacemaker

More than 2,000 women gathered at the Women’s Hospital in Greensboro on October 1 to help raise money for mammograms and raise awareness about breast cancer.

The Women’s Only 5K Walk & Run raised $122,387.30 so that more area women can receive mammograms to screen for breast cancer through Cone Health’s Mammography Scholarship Fund.

For more than two decades, Women’s Hospital has hosted the Women’s Only 5K Walk & Run. The race is the primary fundraiser for the Cone Health Mammography Scholarship Fund that provides mammograms for women who otherwise could not afford the screening service. Each year, the fund provides about 600 women with screening mammograms.

“Mammography is the gold standard in diagnosing breast cancer,” said Women’s Hospital President Cindy Farrand. “A lack of money shouldn’t be a reason for not getting this lifesaving exam.”

The cancer experts at Cone Health Cancer Center treat more cases of breast cancer than any other type of cancer. Cone Health treated 904 cases of breast cancer in 2015. Mammograms are a crucial part of early detection.

“We are very good at treating breast cancer at Cone Health Cancer Center and early detection through mammography is very important,” said Skip Hislop, vice president of Oncology Services. “And this event makes mammograms possible for hundreds of women in our community.”

The Mammography Scholarship Fund covers one mammography screening per year for women age 40 and older who meet the criteria. A new application must be completed each year.