Student walks for mom, cancer

While most students are focused on getting an internship or job by the end of the semester, senior Beth Rosender has a different goal. She plans on participating in the Michigan Avon Breast Cancer Three-Day, a fundraising and breast cancer awareness event. \nThe cancer walk, which takes place from May 31 to June 2, will take Rosender from the picturesque community of Ann Arbor to Detroit, the town that Ford built. Walking 20 miles a day, traveling a total of 60 miles in three days, Rosender and 3,000 other participants will use their journey to raise funds for breast cancer research and prevention. \nRosender said the reason she plans to participate is because breast cancer has struck very close to home. Her mother, Karen Rosender, was diagnosed with the deadly disease about one year ago.\n"I was diagnosed with breast cancer one day before we left for Hawaii for spring break," Karen said. "I didn't want to spoil our trip, so I told Beth the day before she left to go back to school. It was very hard to tell her, with lots of tears."\nThe Orchard Lake, Mich., native was dum'bstruck with her mother's news.\n"The first thing I thought was that my mother was going to die," Beth said. "I did not know a lot about breast cancer at the time and only focused on the word cancer. Everybody I knew who had cancer had passed away from it, but after talking to my mom and some of my friends who went through the same things, I realized that you can beat breast cancer, which is what my mom did."\nKaren said her form of cancer was invasive, but it was caught early, saving her painful treatments.\n"All of my lymph nodes were clear," she said. "I had a lumpectomy and radiation treatments, which lasted for seven weeks."\nBeth said that is was difficult to remain at school while her mom was battling for her life.\n"When (my mom) had her treatments I was here at school," she said. "I talked with her a lot on the phone, but I was really bothered that I couldn't be there for her."\nNow in remission for six months, Rosender looked into participating in the Michigan Avon Breast Cancer Three-Day but did not feel physically up to it.\n"I thought I might be able to walk 10 miles a day," she said. "But 20 miles would be too much for me."\nBeth decided to participate after reading an advertisement for the walk in a Shape magazine. She is participating in the inaugural year for the Michigan walk. There are other Avon Breast Cancer Three-Days across the nation, from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Wash.\nParticipants in the walk must raise $1,900 to participate, which must be collected by May 3. Beth is working hard to raise the donation in time.\n"I am sending letters to my family and friends," she said. "I have also sent letters to all of the fraternities and sororities, and I am in the process of giving letters to my professors and people in my classes."\nKaren is also helping, supplying Beth with addresses and contacts in Michigan.\nBeth said the primary reason she is participating is to show support for her mom. But Beth is not walking alone. A friend from home has also opted to raise the funds and walk along side Beth.\n"There have been a couple of people close to me that have been affected by cancer," Beth said. "A family friend was diagnosed with breast cancer this summer. I am walking for my mom, that family, and everyone else I know who has been affected by cancer in general."\nMost who walk in the Avon Three-Days have been personally affected by the deadly disease.\n"I am doing the Avon Three-Days for every woman and man who has breast cancer," said Rosalind Harper, a walker. "And especially for those caught up in so much fear, like my friend and my aunt. And maybe for myself one day. I do it because I can, to see how much compassion there is inside of me"