Wayne's Valley National Bank's Breast Cancer Walk Raised $100K

Valley National Bank’s sixth annual breast cancer walk, “Valley Goes Pink!,” was a success.

The Oct. 18 event kicked off at 1460 Valley Road in Wayne, and over a thousand employees, family members and friends walked to raise money for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), according to their press release.

The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation supports breast cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and other national and international research facilities under the direction of Dr. Larry Norton, M.D, who serves as the Foundation’s Scientific Advisor.

Contributions from this year’s event totaled over $100,000, Over the past six years, Valley has raised approximately $600,000 in support of Dr. Norton’s research.

This year’s event featured games, prize drawings, a 50/50 raffle and free food and beverages. New York’s most popular television weather expert, Mr. G., was also in attendance. Dr. Elizabeth Comen, Assistant Attending Breast Cancer Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, spoke about the research and answered questions. Dr. Comen is one of the lead researchers working with Dr. Norton.

In 2013, the generous support of the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation allowed Dr. Norton’s research group to make further progress in their mission to decipher breast cancer biology so as to produce clinically relevant results.

A major focus of their work is the relationship between mobile breast cancer cells and the “normal” cells in their immediate environment. This is of major importance because it is the mobility of breast cancer cells that allows them to form metastases, the major life-threatening aspect of cancer.

Metastases depend not only on the mobility of cancer cells but also their ability to interact with white blood cells, blood vessel cells, and other cells in the organ that they invade. The CBCF has facilitated creative studies of this process leading Dr. Norton’s group toward the development of novel approaches to cancer prognostication, therapy, and ultimately prevention.

The Cure Breast Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit foundation whose mission it is to raise funds to support research to find a cure for breast cancer. CBCF provides critical funding for innovative research under the leadership of Dr. Norton, a leading breast cancer oncologist and researcher. CBCF donates 100 percent of its net fundraising proceeds to support this research.