Cancer Warrior Week to raise awareness

Cancer Warrior Week, which begins Saturday, Oct. 12, and continues with nearly a dozen events through Saturday, Oct. 19 in Las Cruces, is all about raising money and raising awareness to help women in the battle against cancer.

“We’re super excited” about the second annual Cancer Warriors Week, founder and coordinator Marci Dickerson said. “With tremendous community support, we raise money to provide goods and services to help women dealing with breast, ovarian and uterine cancer.”

Early detection to help relieve fear and anxiety and to prevent breast cancer and other women’s cancers or to help catch them in their early stages is “a challenge we are currently facing and Cancer Warriors is trying to solve,” she said.

Cancer Warriors’ mission is to provide “support for women to overcome their fears and get pre-screened,” said Dickerson, who is a breast cancer survivor. She had her final round of chemotherapy in April 2023 and is cancer-free.

Dickerson’s personal goal for Cancer Warriors is to make the journey faster and easier for every woman dealing with cancer. Some of the money raised pays for “warrior boxes” filled with gift cards and items for women receiving chemotherapy. The box includes a blanket, socks, personal hygiene items and nausea drops, plus a $50 amazon.com card; with surgery, the box includes a $150 gift card and a shopping list for things like a seatbelt pillow, drain shirt, drain slings and a front-zip bra; and with radiation treatment, the box includes a $50 gift card, skin-care products and an Aloe Vera drink to help stay hydrated.

Here are activities during Cancer Warriors Week:

• Saturday, Oct. 12: Warriors Zumba, 10 a.m.-noon, at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road.
• Sunday, Oct. 13: Warrior Soccer Game, begins at noon at the NMSU soccer field, 1830 Stewart Street on the NMSU campus.
• Tuesday, Oct. 15: Cancer Warriors NMSU Football Game Tailgate, begins at 5 p.m. at Aggie Memorial Stadium on the NMSU campus. Pick up tickets at the tailgate tent between the Pan American Center and the football stadium or at Game 1 Sports Bar and Grill, 2605 S. Espina Street. Wear pink and get free tickets.
• Wednesday, Oct. 16: Candles for Hope, luminaria lighting, beginning at 6 p.m. at Memorial Medical Center, 2405 S. Telshor Blvd. Come and decorate a luminaria or bring one of your own, to dedicate to anyone touched by cancer.
• Thursday, Oct. 17: Bras for a Cause, begins at 6 p.m. at the Farm and Ranch Museum. With a speakeasy theme, the event will include a live auction, food prepared by five female chefs, casino games and a live auction of imaginatively decorated bras. Renowned Las Cruces artist Abel Garcia will attend and provide a “unique work of art” to be auctioned off, Dickerson said. Costumes are encouraged. Tickets are $100 at Eventbrite.
• Friday, Oct. 18, has four events: Business Pink Out encourages local businesses to decorate in pink and send a photo to the Las Cruces Bulletin to compete for prizes; the Cancer Warrior Music Fest begins at 6 p.m. at Game 1 and features Proud Pete; the Pink Warrior Football Game begins at 7 p.m. at Field of Dreams, 2300 Tashiro Drive, as Centennial and Organ Mountain High School square off. Attendees are encouraged to wear pink. Pink Warrior Volleyball Game begins at 7 p.m. at the Pan American Center, 1810 E. University Ave.
• Saturday, Oct. 19: The Cancer Warrior Music Fest, featuring Unlyshed, continues at Game 1, beginning at 6 p.m.; 5K and 1K walks begin at 10 a.m. between the Pan American Center and Aggie Memorial Stadium. Participants are encouraged to wear cancer colors. The runs will include “vendors, prizes and all sorts of fun,” Dickerson said.

Dickerson said Cancer Warriors continues the work of the “Tough Enough to Wear Pink” campaign, which raised millions of dollars for breast cancer research during its 2007-16 run in Las Cruces, with founders Pat Sisbarro, Laura Conniff and Magellia Boston.

“Myself and the Cancer Warriors board of directors are honored to pick up the baton and continue the great work that ‘Tough Enough to Wear Pink’ has done to change how we deal with cancer in Las Cruces,” Dickerson said.

Cancer Warriors’ very first event, in March 2023, raised more than $200,000, and Dickerson and the Cancer Warriors board are already well on their way to reaching that total and beyond this year. Dickerson said 100 percent of the money raised for Cancer Warriors stays in Doña Ana County.

More information is available at Facebook.com/cancerwarriorslc.