PWA holds 7th Annual Pink Warrior Dash

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press

The Pink Warrior Angels of Texas held the seventh annual Pink Warrior Dash 5K race Saturday morning at the Copperas Cove City Park. 

Participants took off downhill from near Field 7 and made three laps around the park for the completion of the 5K. 

Approximately 200 people registered for the race, according to PWA Founder Julie Moser. She added that $12,000 had been raised for Pink Warrior Angels through the Pink Warrior Dash as of Saturday morning. 

“That is amazing, and it’s been a huge accomplishment coming out of COVID’s craziness of a year and into a smaller COVID year, but it is imperative to be able to still fund and help our cancer survivors when they’re going through treatment to help pay for some bills, mortgages, because once you’re done with treatment, sometimes we still have a lot of issues that linger around,” Moser said. 

Moser shared that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time back in December 2020 and has gone through radiation the second time around and suffered through the side effects of that. 

Moser said she was so happy to be able to have the race in person this year. 

“Being out in public again, it’s so nice to see everybody,” Moser said. “I didn’t realize how much I missed people until I had to cancel everything last year.”

Moser said she was not able to walk the laps this year due to her condition and shared her appreciation for those who were participating. 

“That’s what I want to share is that times are hard when our body is not in our favor,” Moser said. “Every step that y’all take is for the next person who’s diagnosed, for the next person who is enduring chemo treatment, the next person who is on hospice, the next person who doesn’t even know they’re about to have cancer. We appreciate you, and we cannot have a tremendous year without you.”

Moser later shared that she was also dealing with her mother being in hospice now. Moser’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer five years after Moser’s initial diagnosis and then went metastatic in 2019. She went through her chemotherapy treatment via pill form and suffered health problems after the second pill and decided against further treatment and is now in hospice, Moser said. 

Seeing the support of the community at Saturday’s race meant a lot, she added. 

“You know, $12,000 in just a few short months- it’s one of our biggest turnouts per se, and it means a lot to have the people because we just need to get back to some sort of normalcy anyway,” Moser said. “To cheer, to dance, to see the smiles, you know, that means a lot because life is too short, as we’ve discussed.” 

The funds raised will be used to further Pink Warrior Angels’ mission, which is to provide support to all cancer patients/survivors as they go through their battle against cancer. 

This year was Molly Batson’s first time attending. Batson was a member of Team Tyra for Tyra Charmant, who was also in attendance. 

Batson’s granddaughter and Tyra’s daughter were on the Copperas Cove High School Copperettes’ dance team together in high school, and Batson said that after they graduated, the two families grew even closer together. 

“I love their daughters like their mine,” Batson said. “When the girls went to New York City to dance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Batson said she and Tyra stuck together and bonded. 

For Batson, showing support for women going through breast cancer is especially important. Her sister-in-law had breast cancer more than 30 years ago, and Batson said she has also lost family members to breast cancer and has friends who are still battling breast cancer now. 

“Any cancer is important [to raise awareness of] and especially breast cancer, it just seems like a battle that these women have a difficult time winning, but they don’t give up- and if they don’t give up, we’re not going to give up with them,” Batson said. “We’re going to fight it.”

Tyra Charmant, who was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in March 2018, was walking for herself and in memory of her friend Donna Whitfield, who succumbed to her battle with breast cancer last year. 

“Today is a special day for me,” Charmant said. “I’m walking for myself as a survivor, and I’m walking for my friend Donna Whitfield. She passed away in 2020 of metastatic breast cancer, so I’m walking for her. It’s just a great day. One day at a time. We’re still here.”

Charmant’s team won the first-place prize for largest group. She had 47 people in her group walking Saturday morning and had a total of 106 people participating in the walk virtually across the globe- from Greece to Hawaii, Alaska, New York, New Jersey and more.

For more information on how to donate to Pink Warrior Angels of Texas, visit their website at: https://pwatx.org/donate/.