Katy woman's focus: Cancer walk

Ribbons, pins and pearls - if it makes Katy resident Pam Gallagher think of breast cancer awareness, she will probably put it on her hat.

It's her walking hat, the one she will don during the two-day, 39-mile Avon Walk for Breast Cancer April 16-17.

Gallagher already got the party started at the "Great Start Party" held in January at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center for Houstonians planning to participate.

"It's a rah-rah session," Gallagher said. "We get people together - people who have done it before, people who are new, people who are thinking about it. It's the beginning of the camaraderie."

In just four years, Gallagher has raised more than $22,000 for the Avon Foundation for Women. Her first year in the walk, she raised slightly more than $4,000. By 2010, she more than doubled that. Her goal for 2011 is $10,000.

"The thing I impress upon people who support me is that it's possible the $10 they donate or the $1 they raise could be the dollar that finds the cure," Gallagher said.

Since the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer launched in 2003, more than 142,000 walkers have raised more than $380 million. The Avon Foundation, a nonprofit organization, awards the funds to local, regional and national breast cancer organizations dedicated to awareness, education, screening, support services, research and assistance with finding access to treatment.

"I do think we will find a cure in our lifetime," Gallagher said, "because research over the last few years has been amazing and shows so much promise."

The walks take place in nine cities across the United States, beginning with Houston in April and wrapping up in Charlotte, N.C., in October.

Some people walk in teams, others go solo. Gallagher has done it both ways, chitchatting her way across Houston as she comes across other walkers.

Gallagher has extra incentive along the way, as her husband of 32 years, Mike; their 20-year-old son Brian and 25-year-old son Patrick volunteer throughout the weekend of the walk, cheering her on when they see her cruise by water stations.

Gallagher's daughter Katie Gallagher, 27, is also involved, but in a different way.

Katie Gallagher, who lives south of the Heights in Houston, is a logistics coordinator at Avon's Houston office, 5100 Westheimer.

She has seen many dedicated people come through the office since it opened in 2007, including her mother, who regularly stuffs envelopes or helps with data entry.

"That kind of dedication in people in general is wonderful, but it's so special to me that it's coming from my mom," Katie Gallagher said. "There's not a word that can even describe it. Actually there is. Proud. I'm very proud of her."

Pam Gallagher has experienced personal grief and loss.

Her son, Kevin, was 20 when he died from lymphoma in 2002, and two of Gallagher's friends have died from ovarian cancer.

The breast cancer connection is Gallagher's sister's mother-in-law, Joann Bakota of New Jersey.

"We only saw each other occasionally, when I would go up to visit my sister," Gallagher said. "But the last time she was diagnosed with breast cancer is when we really got close."

Bakota was diagnosed with cancer three times.

The first time in 1994, it was in one breast. The second time, a couple of years later, it was in the other breast. Despite the mastectomies followed by eight years of remission, the cancer returned in 2004, and this time it was in Bakota's bones. She was 63 when she died in 2006.

"She was really quite brave about the whole thing," Gallagher said. "When the opportunity to participate in the Avon walk came up about a year and a half later, she was the perfect person to inspire me."

Gallagher is in the midst of fundraising. She has until April to reach her goal.

"Until Joann died, my focus was more on the cancer my son had," Gallagher said. "We would try to make donations to M.D. Anderson every year on his birthday. And then this came along. If it wasn't for Joann, I probably wouldn't have done this. I think she'd be really proud. Touched, too."