An expected 2,000 runners and walkers will converge at Woodstock North High School to raise money for breast cancer screenings, exams, education and mammograms.
Family Health Partnership Clinic will host the 17th annual Care4 Breast Cancer 5K at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 15. The Crystal Lake-based nonprofit, which provides health care services to uninsured and underinsured local residents, hopes to raise $150,000, all of which will remain in McHenry County.
“[Women] put off having a mammogram for financial reasons,” said Liz Annetti, events director for FHPC, who is helping to organize the 5K.
To that point, Annetti said McHenry County has the lowest rate of diagnoses among nearby counties for ductal carcinoma in situ — the earliest, noninvasive stage of breast cancer that is easily treatable.
Between 2010 and 2014, for example, the National Cancer Institute reported the rate of in situ diagnoses in McHenry County as 28.2 per 100,000 people, as opposed to 29.6 in Kane County, 35 in Cook County and 41.9 in Lake County. Annetti attributed the low rate of early diagnosis to McHenry County’s high population of uninsured and underinsured residents.
Sage Products in Cary serves as the presenting sponsor for the 5K, joined by many other local businesses. Five-hundred volunteers will work the race, including students from Woodstock, Woodstock North and Marian Central Catholic high schools, as well as students from Crystal Lake.
“[The students] bring a wonderful energy to the event,” Annetti said.
To register online through 11 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11, visit events.hpclinic.org/site/TR?fr_id=1100&pg=entry. Online registration is $30.
Late registration is $35 and can be completed in person at Family Health Partnership Clinic, 401 E. Congress Parkway, Crystal Lake, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14, or at WNHS, 3000 Raffel Road, from 7 to 8 p.m. on race day.