Last year, Felicia McMillan donned a tutu and ran in Sensus Gym’s Colour Me Pink 5K Run/Walk in memory of her sister, who had died of breast cancer about three years earlier.
On Saturday about 300 residents turned up at the Festival Village Grounds to take part in the annual run/walk, which this year was held in her memory.
Before the event began, participants threw coloured cornstarch powder on each other and took turns being sprayed with water before following a pickup truck mounted with loudspeakers around the course.
Many of the participants showed up in tutus in honour of Ms. McMillan.
“She loved tutus,” said Lisa Adamson, who has organised such fundraisers for 11 years. “She might not be here in body, but she is here in spirit. She’s an amazing person. I’m not going to refer to her in past tense: She’s very much here with us in spirit. Hence the tutus.”
Ms. McMillan would have been overjoyed to see the turnout on Saturday, said her son Olicity McMillan-Lance.
“I feel happy and proud this was done in honour of my mom,” he said. “She would feel really good if she were here. We were very close. She was like a sister. It’s hard now without her, but there’s nothing we can do.”
Ms. McMillan’s father Ulric McMillan urged residents to take preventive measures.
“Get checked and keep checking no matter how simple it may be,” Mr. McMillan said as he made his way back to the Festival Village Grounds. “From what I’ve seen, this is very dangerous, and I would like to see somebody find a cure for this sickness.”
Breast cancer is also expensive to treat, Ms. Adamson explained.
Vouchers
Ms. McMillan was one of hundreds of women who have benefited from mammogram vouchers and financial assistance for other medical needs, the organiser said.
Since the programme began more than a decade ago, at least 800 mammogram vouchers have been distributed, said Ms. Adamson’s husband Michael.
“The way the programme works is we give vouchers out to the BVI Health Services Authority and all the vouchers are distributed around the BVI, and when a doctor has a patient that needs a mammogram, he simply gives them a free voucher,” Mr. Adamson said. “They take it to Eureka or Peebles Hospital and they have their mammograms performed completely free of charge. All the funds raised here go towards paying for free mammograms.”
Last year, when about 250 people participated, the event raised around $17,000, Ms. Adamson said, adding that organisers hope to surpass that number this year.
“It was amazing — much better than what I thought and what I expected,” she said. “We had 250 shirts and they were all gone. I would say there were just under 300 people altogether.”
Michele Jardine was among the many first-time participants.
“I didn’t run all the way: I walked some,” she said. “I feel exhausted, but I guess that’s the point.”
Though the sun was hot and the course long, the effort was worth it, Ms. Jardine added.
“Anything to bring awareness and anything to help those less fortunate is always a good thing,” she said, adding that she gets a mammogram every year. “Mammograms do save lives, so what does it hurt to come out in the hot sun, get a tan, lose some calories and raise funds help someone out?”
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