Each year, thousands of women, men and children gather in City Park for Jodi’s Race for Awareness, the second largest ovarian cancer run/walk in the country.
They wear teal (the color of ovarian cancer) accessories, carry signs featuring the faces of loved ones who have battled the disease and gather with friends and families in decorated tents in Team Village. All are there to support the women who have battled ovarian cancer and to increase awareness of the disease, which is the deadliest gynecologic cancer.
For survivors, Jodi’s Race provides an important sense of community. Jean McKibben enjoys connecting in person with the faces she sees during the virtual Support Group run by the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance saying, “This is a disease few people know about so you need a group that is going through what you are and can support you.”
Roxie Strong, who was diagnosed with stage IA fallopian tube cancer in 2005, looks forward to the Survivor Breakfast at Jodi’s Race. “There’s such positivity as survivors and loved ones gather and encourage each other,” she reports.
Others attend Jodi’s Race to honor loved ones they’ve lost and raise awareness so that other women may be diagnosed sooner. Alexa Ford, who has participated every year since creating team Loreen’s Hope in 2016 after losing her mother to ovarian cancer, says, “Raising awareness of the subtle symptoms of ovarian cancer and encouraging women to pay attention to their bodies really can save lives.”
Denver7’s Jaclyn Allen will emcee Jodi’s Race, which is both an educational event and a fundraiser for COCA. Because there is no screening test for ovarian cancer, it’s important for women to recognize the most common symptoms – bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, difficulty eating or feeling full quickly, and urinary urgency or frequency. Any symptoms that continue for two weeks or more or recur frequently should be reported to a physician promptly.
Funds raised through Jodi’s Race support COCA programs including support groups, individual counseling, financial assistance and navigation, an Ovarian Cancer Resource Guide, comfort kits, educational programs and much more.
Denver7 is a proud partner of Jodi’s Race and the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance.
For more information, please visit www.jodisrace.org.
This article was paid for through an in-kind partnership.