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Fundraising events held during Cancer Warriors Week, Oct. 12-19, raised more than $180,000 in cash along with more than $50,000 in in-kind sponsorships, according to Cancer Warriors Las Cruces founder Marci Dickerson. She added that 100 percent of the money raised during the week “is spent on our Cancer Warriors program and is only spent in Doña Ana County.”
The Oct. 17 Bras for a Cause dinner at New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum included a live auction of decorated bras and a painting created during the event by renowned artist and Las Cruces native Abel Garcia.
The idea behind Garcia’s painting came from a design created by a Cancer Warriors founding member and sold for over $10,000, while the night’s auction doubled organizers’ expectations and brought in $60,000.
The painting was purchased by Jeff and Roberta Flores, owners of MECA Therapies Early Intervention in Las Cruces, Dickerson said. Roberta Flores is a Cancer Warriors co-founder.
“What was so amazing and special about this painting,” Dickerson said, is that “not only did Abel sign it, he had every cancer survivor in the room come up and sign it as well. Once the painting is framed, it will be donated and hung in the Memorial Medical Center cancer center as a tribute to all those who have battled cancer,” said Dickerson, who is a breast-cancer survivor. She created Cancer Warriors in 2023 to help others in the fight against women’s cancers.
“We had amazing turnout for the Zumba event” that opened Cancer Warriors Week, Dickerson said, and also for the Oct. 15 NMSU football game that included a Cancer Warriors tailgate event. She said more than 150 people participated in the Cancer Warriors Oct. 19 5K run/walk and there were more than 300 people at Bras for a Cause, including many in costume for the event’s speakeasy theme.
The highlight of the week, Dickerson said, was the introduction of the Mammo to Answers Expedited Diagnostic Program, a partnership between MMC and Cancer Warriors that will reduce the length of time from mammogram to biopsy, so a woman can learn more quickly if she has breast cancer and needs treatment.
“We are so delighted the community sees the value of our program and we are able to bring real, meaningful changes to the cancer journey in Doña Ana County,” Dickerson said.
