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 ─ including hats, tutus, feathers and capes ─ carry signs featuring the faces of loved one 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.
Denver7 is a proud partner of Jodi’s Race for Awareness
This year, Jodi’s Race is particularly important to the survivors. Due to COVID, the race was held virtually in 2020 and scaled back in 2021. Because of fragile immune systems, many ovarian cancer survivors have been relatively isolated for the past two years and are looking forward to connecting in person with women they have met through virtual and telephone support groups hosted by the Colorado Ovarian Cancer Alliance, as well as with the family and friends who have been cheering them on from a distance.
For women like Diane Mock, who learned she had a recurrence of ovarian cancer in January of 2019, Jodi’s Race is about community. Mock marked the date for the 2021 Jodi’s Race on her calendar and used it as a goal during her treatment. When she arrived at City Park last June, she immediately felt supported by the many women wearing teal, each of whom had gone through an experience similar to her own.
Judy Sherman, who attended her first Jodi’s Race in 2019 one month after completing her first round of chemotherapy, recalls the power of the beads. At the race, each survivor receives a strand of teal or purple beads for every year of survival since their initial diagnosis. “I looked around and saw all these women with their necks draped in beads,” recalls Sherman. “I walked up to several and asked them if I could touch their beads for luck. It gave me such strength.”
For many survivors, including Pattyanne Corsentino who travels from Pueblo, Colo. annually for the race, the day is all about hope and camaraderie.
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.
For more information, visit www.JodisRace.org.
