Friendship leads to fighting cancer

Written by Kathryn Fiegen

Lynn Rose and Sue Bode have been neighbors and walking partners in Iowa City since August 1996.

Bode, 58, said she used to watch Rose, 40, leave her house to go on walks, and one day, asked if she could go along. And so began their friendship.

“And the next thing I know, we’re doing marathons together,” Bode said, laughing.

The pair has traveled all over the country doing marathons, from New Orleans to Little Rock, Ark. This summer, they will put their friendship and love of long distances behind a cause — breast cancer.

Starting Aug. 8 in Chicago, they’ll walk 60 miles over three days for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The three-day walk takes place in cities across the country to support breast cancer research and community outreach programs, according to information on its Web site.

Bode and Rose said friends and family members close to them have fought breast cancer, and only some of them survived.

“My mother died of breast cancer, and I had a friend die of breast cancer,” Bode said. “When we started talking about doing this, I realized how many other women I know who have gone through it.”

Rose said raising money to do the Komen walk highlights two things that are important to both of them, staying active and doing their part to fight a disease.

“The cause is really important to Sue and I,” she said.

The women held bake sales earlier in the spring to raise money for the walk. And they have been training to prepare to walk about 20 miles a day during the Komen event, she said.

“We’ve walked so much, we’ve gotten to the point where we don’t have to talk to each other,” Rose said.