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THE GROOVE

THE GROOVE archives

Boarding for Breast Cancer

By Michael Lucas

September 1, 1998

With snowboard events a dime a dozen these days, none are as unique as Boarding For Breast Cancer. Sure, the event has the same format as the others-the raffles, the bands, the pros, the snowboarding-but none are as intimate and interactive. Band members, pro riders, and other celebs ride and roam freely, instead of holing up in some VIP tent.

It's the biggest little event going.

The third-annual Boarding For Breast Cancer landed on a beautiful day in April at Sierra-at-Tahoe, California. Close to 5,000 people showed up to bask in the sun and ride to the sounds of Moby, Supersuckers, Royal Crown Revue, and the Foo Fighters. While former-Veejay Kennedy dodged snowballs and handled the hecklers in the crowd between bands, riders from all over sessioned the spring pipe in a jam format.

Soft snow and a slow runway didn't stop Tina Basich from wowing the crowd with 720s in the big-air expo. Along with Shannon Dunn, Tina has become quite a spokesperson for the event, saying, "I look forward to this event all year because it's a time when all my friends get together-the fact that it's a cause I strongly believe in and support makes it a very special day."

And support the cause she does, donating a portion of her Sims pro-model income to BBC.

Circe Wallace explains that it's a lot more than just fun, "It's easy to get overwhelmed with the responsibilities of everyday life. That's why it's good to come to Boarding For Breast Cancer and realize that life is so very precious."

The fact is this disease has affected many people-the friends of Monica Steward whose memory inspired the creation of the event; snowboarder/Foo Fighter Nate Mendal, whose personal involvement with breast cancer got the band to play this year; guest-speaker/breast-cancer survivor Geralyn Lucas from ABC's 20/20 came to share thoughts on her own battle at age 27. It was truly an amazing day.

This year's BBC raised 112,000 dollars, which has been donated to The Breast Cancer Fund and The Susan G. Komen Foundation. Both are nonprofit organizations that raise awareness and fund research to cure breast cancer.

The Fourth-Annual Boarding For Breast Cancer is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of April 17-18, 1999 at Sierra-at-Tahoe, California.

A woman dies of breast cancer every eleven minutes.

Breast cancer is an epidemic. It is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in American women today.

There are 1.8-million women in this country who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and one-million more who do not yet know they have the disease.

This year, 182,000 women and 1,000 men will discover that they have breast cancer, and 46,000 will die from the disease.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death of women ages 35 to 54.

One out of four women with breast cancer dies within the first five years; 35-percent die within ten years of diagnosis.

The incidence of breast cancer among American women is rising each year. For women ages 30 to 34, the incidence rate tripled between 1973 and 1987; the rate quadrupled for women ages 35 to 39 during the same period.

The risk of breast cancer has more than doubled in the past 30 years. In 1960, one woman in twenty could be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime; today, one in eight faces that threat.

All women in America are at risk for breast cancer.

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