Publication select ▼
Tiffany Easley speaks about her ongoing battle with breast cancer and the amount of support she has received from the Shades of Pink Foundation during the Walk at the Zoo event April 26 in Royal Oak.
Photo by Patricia O’Blenes
ROYAL OAK — The Shades of Pink Foundation’s annual event, “A Walk at the Zoo,” was a huge success April 26 at the Detroit Zoo.
“It’s our signature fundraising event to provide funds to help our mission,” Dr. Pamela Benitez, co-founder of the Shades of Pink Foundation, said.
Benitez said that the walk at the zoo raised around $315,000 and had an attendance of 2,300 people come to the Detroit Zoo, 8450 W. 10 Mile Road, Royal Oak.
The mission of Shades of Pink is to help relieve patients diagnosed with breast cancer of financial burdens placed on them during treatment and recovery, according to shadesofpinkfoundation.org.
Common issues that patients face can include mortgage, rent, insurance payments, transportation costs, child care and other essentials of daily life.
Since 2005, Shades of Pink Foundation has helped more than 1,600 individuals diagnosed with breast cancer in southeast Michigan and raised $3.2 million of financial support to help cover patients’ costs.
Tiffany Easley, a current breast cancer patient, said that her life drastically changed for the better when she found Shades of Pink Foundation.
“I was diagnosed May 28, 2024,” Easley said. “As you can imagine, it was extremely stressful because of the unknown. I had high anxiety; I was afraid. I was just shocked.”
Easley joined Shades of Pink Foundation shortly after her diagnosis and became an ambassador for the organization. She said that it was a major stress reliever for her.
“When you are in the battle and going through treatment, you worry about everything around you — the fear of the unknown and keeping it all together is so very hard,” she said. “When I finally made it clear to my social worker that I was struggling with keeping it all together, she reassured me that help was on the way. And that’s how I got introduced to Shades of Pink.”
Easley helped out during the Walk at the Zoo event.
“To literally be in it, in real life, it was a surreal feeling,” Easley said. “To actually see these people, touch some of them, to hug some of them, some of them gave me words of wisdom. It just gave me a newfound hope that there are so many people out here to support people like me.”
Benitez said that the walk at the zoo continues to provide hope and camaraderie for people who have had breast cancer affect their lives.
“It provides a wonderful day of camaraderie and support for people who are survivors or people who have lost someone to the diagnosis, to the disease,” Benitez said. “It’s a welcoming, warm, friendly community event where we embrace the journey and share the journey and the stories, as well as understanding that we are all there supporting not only those who have gone through the journey or have passed, but also those that have financial need. That’s our mission.”
The day at the zoo with Shades of Pink Foundation included snacks, breakfast, vendors, entertainment and more.
“It’s really a time to just be with one another, all there for one purpose. You can feel that energy, that warmth and camaraderie and the love just by being there,” Benitez said. “We hope that the walk continues to grow every year and really embrace awareness.”
Increasing awareness of the help that the foundation can provide to those going through this disease is the main goal for Benitez and the foundation team.
“It’s our 20th year of the foundation, how people still don’t know about us, and we have money, we have connected to the different social workers, nurse navigators, health care professionals at all of the area hospitals, letting them know we exist, and still our community is not on the tip of everybody’s tongue,” she said. “We are here serving our own community, which is one thing that I find that’s very special and unique.”
Easley encourages women to take action and get regularly checked for breast cancer, even if it does not run in their families.
“To all of the amazing women out there, go get checked anyway, regardless of if it runs in your family. If you feel any different, just go get checked anyway,” Easley said. “That’s exactly what I did. I didn’t have any signs, I didn’t have any background or history of it, and something still showed up. So just go anyway.”
For more information on the Shades of Pink Foundation, visit shadesofpinkfoundation.org.
You May Also Be Interested In
