Heaven Can Wait 5K Walk/Run in Bend, Oregon

(Photo courtesy of heavencanwait.org and St. Charles Health)

Sunday, June 7 at Drake Park St. Charles Foundation’s annual Heaven Can Wait 5K walk/run for breast cancer has grown to become one of the largest 5K races in Central Oregon. Each year on National Cancer Survivors Day, the first Sunday in June, the Heaven Can Wait 5K draws thousands to Bend’s Drake Park with a shared mission to raise funds for Sara’s Project.

Sara’s Project, a fund of St. Charles Foundation, provides education, early detection and support services to ease the challenges of breast cancer for people in Central and Eastern Oregon.

Your participation in Heaven Can Wait:

• Raises funds for Sara’s Project.
• Educates the community about the importance of early detection of breast cancer.
• Encourages community members to walk or run for their health.
• Brings the community together in a celebration of life.

Heaven Can Wait was founded in 2000 by Charlene Levesque, a breast cancer survivor. Charlene’s diagnosis prompted Central Oregon Running Klub (CORK) to begin formulating the idea of a women’s event that would promote early detection of cancer and encourage a healthy active lifestyle.

Lizzi Katz, Community Education & Survivorship Coordinator at St. Charles Cancer Center reports that Sara’s Project received a $10,000 donation recently to honor a patient who is currently in treatment, and they specifically wanted to recognize Peggy Lukens for the great work that she is doing. Lukens is the breast cancer nurse navigator at St. Charles Cancer Center.

Sara’s Project has been asked for funds to help develop educational materials for the newly forming High Risk Breast Clinic, an important new service offered to women in our community to help reduce risk and promote early detection of breast cancer. The goal is to increase education to women identified as being at high breast cancer risk understand their personal risk along with providing awareness, risk reduction strategies and discussion of more aggressive breast cancer screening strategies. Women will receive help to navigate their options.

“Peggy Lukens and I feel that this is a perfect example of what Sara’s Project raises funds for,” noted Katz.

Through an intake questionnaire given at the time of breast cancer screening, women who are identified as having a higher than 20 percent lifetime risk of developing breast cancer qualifies for further evaluation at the Central Oregon High Risk Breast Clinic.

The patient and their physician will be notified and offered education from the High Risk Breast Clinic Coordinator. If the patient is interested, she will be scheduled for a High Risk Breast Consultation with a participating breast surgeon.

There they will receive:
• A Familial Risk Assessment to determine if she meets eligibility for a comprehensive genetics evaluation with our Genetics Specialist
• Discussion of Risk Reduction Strategies (surgical) with a referral to a medical oncologist if she is interested in chemoprevention strategies.
• Discussion of Lifestyle Risk Reduction strategies (with educational materials)
• Discussion of more aggressive breast cancer screening strategies

The Central Oregon High Risk Breast Clinic is a joint collaboration between St Charles Cancer Center, CMI/ CORA and local breast surgeons. The High Risk Breast Program Team includes fellowship-trained breast radiologists, certified breast surgeons, board certified medical oncologist, certified genetics specialist, breast nurse navigator and cancer prevention specialist.

For sponsorships, contact Kelly Jordan, kejordan@stcharleshealthcare.org or 541-706-6996. For general questions, contact Cindy Fields, cdfields@stcharleshealthcare.org or 541-706-6996.