Members of the MidSouth Riders and other area motorcycle groups will sponsor a Breast Cancer Awareness Run on Saturday. The day will include a dice run, silent auction and more as a fund-raiser for the Community Cancer Fund. There will also be information on breast cancer.

When Jeannie Littlejohn was diagnosed with breast cancer in March, her MidSouth Riders family provided her a lot of support.

This weekend, the group, along with others, will be putting that support into action when it hosts the Breast Cancer Awareness Run: Ride for a Cure.

The event will take place Saturday at the Dyer County Fairgrounds’ Family Living Center. All of the day’s proceeds will benefit the Community Cancer Fund.

Martha Davison, Jeannie Littlejohn and Carol Cumberland from left, model the Breast Cancer Awareness Run: Ride for a Cure T-shirt. The shirt, also available in a men’s version, is $15 and is one of the ways funds are being raised this weekend for the Community Cancer Fund. Shirts are available now from any MidSouth Riders member or can be purchased at the Run, which will take place Saturday at the Dyer County Fairgrounds. [Click to enlarge]

The day is open to the entire family.

The Saturday event is not “a motorcycle club thing,” said Martha Davison. “This is for everybody” which is why the goal is two-fold. “If we raise money, great; but the priority is opening eyes. ... (Cancer is) something you don’t think about until it hits.”

Jeannie’s story

Littlejohn has taught at Finley Elementary School for 28 years -- 18 in second grade and the last 10 in kindergarten. Davison is the school librarian. Littlejohn taught both of her kids in second grade.

“Jeannie and I have been friends for years,” Davison said. “We’re a close unit (at Finley); when one’s affected, it touches the rest of us. When Jeannie was hit with this, it affected all of us here at school.”

Getting a yearly mammogram and doing monthly self breast exams is something Littlejohn has done for years. Just before going to her annual physical this year, she felt a lump while doing a self-exam. Her doctor scheduled a mammogram, which led to ultrasounds, which led to a biopsy, which led to surgery. When her stitches came out, she began chemo and radiation treatments.

All of that took place from March 23, when she was diagnosed, until Sept. 11, when she took her last treatment. “The day of her last chemo, all of us wore pink,” Davison said of the Finley Elementary family.

Littlejohn had no history of breast cancer on either side of her family. Doctors told her she had the most common type -- invasive ductal carcinoma.

“Thank God they caught it in time,” said Littlejohn. “God blessed me through the whole thing. (The cancer) was all in the lump, all the samples were negative.”

While those six months were “a difficult experience ... it’s a part of life that changed the rest of my life,” Littlejohn said. “It’s definitely a life-altering experience that gets your priorities straight -- you blow off the fluff and get to what’s important. It makes you love deeper, trust fully; if you have anything to tell people, you let them know.”

Because of her surgery and treatment, Littlejohn had to miss the last eight weeks of the 2006-07 school year. Over the last few weeks of the current school year, she’s been preparing her students for the day she’ll no longer need her short, blond wig. “By the time that happens, it’ll be an adventure we’ve all been on together,” she said with a smile.

One of her current students was in pre-kindergarten last when Littlejohn was diagnosed.

“His mom sent me a card that said every night when he went to bed they said a prayer for Miss Jeannie,” she said. “Those prayers are what’s gotten me through. I’ve been so, so blessed. The community, parents are all wonderful. They come to the school to check on me or send e-mails. They are a wonderful, a super community, my extended family. I’ve gotten an outpouring of love from everybody. I thank my own personal family, God, my MSR family, my Finley community family for their love and support through all this very difficult ordeal. MSR’s outpouring of love and support has been wonderful; I’m so lucky to have them in my life.”

How the Run began

For Davison, Littlejohn was the third woman she’d learned of within a week’s time who had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

“These weren’t women I’d just heard of or was acquainted with, they are women I know,” she said. “I prayed about it. He brought me the idea.”

During her 20s, Davison had a “crippling fear” of cancer that left when she was saved in her 30s because of “the peace of God that came into my life.” Still, she said, there is concern when she learns of people who are diagnosed with cancer. “You can do everything right and still have cancer,” she said. But information, she believes, can make a difference.

Even before she learned her three friends had breast cancer, Davison started getting a nudge about organizing a motorcycle event. It was strange to her. While she’s a member of the Union City chapter of the Christian Motorcyclists Association, she mostly travels on her bike and rarely participates in rides or runs “but the idea kept coming,” she said. “I told God I didn’t know how to do it but was willing to be used. That went on for a few days. God said, ‘You don’t know (how) but there are people who do.’ He laid Carol (Cumberland, a member of MidSouth Riders) on my heart. Carol’s intelligent, a go-getter, organized, good at putting things together. She was the first one I contacted. I e-mailed her my thoughts and she immediately replied, ‘Count me in.’”

With October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the time was obvious for when to hold the event.

“Money wasn’t the main goal, but awareness,” Davison said. “When I first had the idea, I wanted women and men to become aware. Breast cancer mostly affects women but it also affects their children, their husbands, their parents, everybody in their world. The word has got to get out that you need to take care of yourself. Women need to realize they need to take care of themselves, to do mammograms -- it’s not as bad as it sounds and it saves lives.”

That awareness also pertains to men.

“If men are more aware of breast cancer, they’ll be more supportive of the women in their lives, encouraging them to get a mammogram,” Davison said.

Men also need to learn breast cancer signs for themselves, she noted. According to the American Cancer Society, there were an estimated 2,030 new cases of male breast cancer reported in the United States in 2005.

As others came on board to help with the Breast Cancer Awareness Run, “things got rolling,” Davison said. “Then my father took a turn for the worse and I had to get out of some responsibilities -- this was one. I knew Carol had it and things were great. The Lord gave me peace that it would be OK, to let the ball roll.”

The beneficiary

When Davison and Cumberland began planning the Breast Cancer Awareness Run, “I wanted to get a group involved,” Cumberland said.

She suggested the Community Cancer Fund because she’d knew its funding stayed in Dyer County, but that was about all she knew about the organization. She invited its director to a meeting so Run organizers could learn more. From that point, “I wanted to involve them even more,” she said.

Community Cancer Fund started in 1985 as the Moody Wadley Barbecue for Cancer. The name change came in 2002. The non-profit 501c3 organization has an all-volunteer staff. All proceeds raised from fund-raisers and through donations, memorials, honorariums and United Way designations “go back to the people in Dyer County who’re directly affected by cancer,” said Debra Roberson, the Fund’s director. “There are a lot of ways people can give. Every small amount helps.”

How the money is used “depends on what we’re called on to do and on individual patient’s needs,” Roberson continued. “There are so many different situations. It goes for medical assistance; paying doctors; when a patient has insurance but can’t make co-pay; to help with nutritional supplements, transportation, utilities, groceries. We talk to each patient, see a need and try to meet it.”

In addition to assisting cancer patients and their families, the Community Cancer Fund also donates to Angel Flight South Central and the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis.

A look at Saturday

The goal of the Breast Cancer Awareness Run is two-fold -- to raise awareness about breast cancer and to raise money for the Community Cancer Fund.

Gates will open at 10 a.m. Saturday. Registration will begin at that time. Door prizes will be available during registration.

Official Breast Cancer Awareness Run T-shirts -- available in male and female versions -- are $15. Shirts can be purchased before the Run from any MidSouth Riders member.

Information booths, from organizations like the Jackson Family Cancer Center, will be on site. Organizations that would like to have a booth can contact Cumberland at 285-3310 ext. 321 or 627-1145.

The information will continue with speakers at 11:30 a.m. Scheduled are cancer survivors and representatives from the Community Cancer Fund and the Jackson Family Cancer Center.

The dice run is $10 per hand. The Run is open to anything that can legally be ridden on the road -- cars, trucks, motorcycles. It will leave the fairgrounds at noon, with police escort, and stop at Finley School, Springhill Baptist Church, the Millsfield Fire Department and come back to the fairgrounds.

There will also be a 50/50 drawing. Tickets will be $1 each or six for $5. Through the drawing, the pot will be split between the winning ticket holder and the Community Cancer Fund.

The silent auction will open at 10 a.m. and go throughout the day. There will also be a bake sale.

Coupon books from Peebles will be available for $5 each with proceeds benefiting the Community Cancer Fund. All coupons are for a one-day sale, which will be held on Nov. 11.

Winners of the dice run, auction and 50/50 drawing will be announced when the run returns, which is projected to be around 4 p.m. Food plates will also be available when the run returns to the fairgrounds; proceeds from the plates will benefit the Community Cancer Fund. The day will conclude around 6 p.m.

“Someone will be at the fairgrounds if people want to come later or while the ride’s going on,” Cumberland said. “If someone wants to participate in the dice roll (after it’s started), they can get hands at the fairgrounds.”

Community support for the event -- from T-shirt sales to sponsors to auction items -- has been good.

“Anyone we’ve asked to help has said they know so-and-so who’s had it,” Cumberland said. “We’ve gotten a lot of industries to be sponsors and given a lot of items -- Briggs & Stratton, Komatsu, Quebecor, both locations of CashMaster, Burks Beverage. The (Family Living Center) building rental at the fairgrounds has been covered for us by Larry Gibson, Tim Gibson and George and Judy Hollingsworth. Even though this is benefiting Dyer County, others from out of county and even out of state are willing to help. The lady at Homer’s in Gates, which we always use as a stop, has provided items.”

Several organizations are also assisting with the day.

“The Dyersburg and Union City chapters of Christian Motorcyclists Association and Delta Cruisers are supporting us, but most of the people involved are MidSouth Riders, MSR spouses and friends of MSR. (MidSouth Riders) is behind it big time,” Cumberland said. “We will also have people who’ll be coming from clubs in Missouri and Arkansas to participate in the Run. Members of Girl Scout Troop 241 from Newbern will get their community service badges by helping with cleanup.”

Several Community Cancer Fund committee members will be on hand Saturday.

“The whole committee is excited to be involved in this. It’s a new adventure for us. It means we’ll have more funds to help more people,” Roberson said. “We’re always limited because we’re trying to reach as many as we possibly can. The more we earn, the more we can help. There are family, friends and neighbors who have needs. ... I think they (MidSouth Riders) are a very caring, very giving organization. We’re lucky to have a group of people who’re that concerned. They’re really some nice people,”

Organizers of Breast Cancer Awareness Run: Ride for a Cure are hoping for a large turnout Saturday.

“We hope that everyone understands that this is for everyone, not just bikers,” Cumberland said. “This is a community thing. We hope that everyone who’s been touched by breast cancer in any way -- either directly or family or friends -- comes out and donates something.”

“Hopefully the end of the day will be profitable in information and money,” Littlejohn said. “We hope to make a lot of good money for the Community Cancer Fund.”

But they also hope for something even bigger, Davison said.

“If just one woman who’s never had a mammogram before gets one because of this, it’s well worth it.”

For more information on the Breast Cancer Awareness Run, contact Carol Cumberland at 285-3310 ext. 321 (daytime), 627-1145 (nights) or carol.cumberland@hecomfg.com