More than 3,000 finish 3-day breast cancer walk

The three-day, 60-mile march ended Sunday amid tears, cheers and high-fives. For the more than 3,000 people who finished the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk, it was a long-awaited triumph.

"Near the end today, I thought it was going to be too much," said Barb Patterson, of Bellevue, a two-year survivor of breast cancer who has endured chemotherapy, radiation and biotech drugs to fight off the disease. Cheering from friends, staff and onlookers helped Patterson and her friend Maadhavi Lakamsani go all the way. "And the music," she said.

Starting on Friday, marchers walked through Bellevue and Redmond; on Saturday, in Redmond and Kirkland — camping both nights at Marymoor Park. They had "karaoke, and a dance party, and great spirit," said Andrew Tonks, one of the 400 volunteers enlisted to help the walkers.

The journey ended at Seattle Center on Sunday, when some 3,250 people crossed the finish line, about 1,000 more than last year.

About 329 of the walkers were survivors; most others were their kith and kin. Some took the challenge to honor loved ones they lost to cancer. The walkers were mostly women, but 254 men also joined in.

Together they raised some $8.6 million for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a foundation that supports breast-cancer research, and for the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund. Last year, the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk raised $6.4 million.

The frenzy at the finish line and the hefty amount raised underscore the toll wrought by the disease. About 200,000 new cases are diagnosed among U.S. women every year. Oregon and Washington have the highest rates of breast cancer in the country, although the reasons are unknown, according to the foundation.

The Seattle event is part of a nationwide movement: Similar walks take place in 14 cities. Walkers commit to walk an average of 20 miles a day and to raise $2,200, which helps pay for clinical research, as well as educational and outreach programs.

Vicky Basso and her sister Melissa Huffman, of Kalama, Cowlitz County, raised more than $12,000. They walked to remember their grandmother, who died of breast cancer six years ago. Basso arrived at the finish line wearing a T-shirt that read "Granny's Walkers" — but Huffman didn't make it. She was taken off the walk after getting blisters, Basso said.

For many, the three-day walk was the culmination of months of preparation. Huffman and Basso began training in April.

Tania Zapata-García of Seattle began training with a friend in March, but the friend backed out. That didn't keep her from finishing the walk, though. "I saw it through," she said.

Others weren't so lucky. Susanna Bartlett, of Yelm, Thurston County, walked 10 miles each day on weekends for six months. Despite the intense training, her feet suffered blisters and she had to bow out on Friday.

Bartlett, whose sister and sister-in-law both have breast cancer, waited at the finish line with other walkers and plans to return next year for an encore.

"I walk because they can't," she said. "I have to finish what I started."

Ángel González: 206-515-5644 or agonzalez@seattletimes.com