A 100-mile bike ride changed the way Megan Wenstrup looked at breast cancer.
Wenstrup, owner of Heights Cycle in Palos Heights, took part in a breast cancer fundraiser several years ago. She wasn’t sure how she would feel about riding that far outdoors, but the experience stayed with her.
“While I much prefer an indoor bike to an outdoor bike, the event had a tremendous impact,” Wenstrup said.
She started thinking about just how many people had been touched by breast cancer. It seemed almost everyone had a story about a mother, daughter, sister, aunt or friend.
That experience eventually led to Palos Goes Pink.
The fourth annual fundraiser was held Saturday, Oct. 3, at Lake Katherine Nature Center in Palos Heights. What started as a fitness event has grown into a community effort to raise money for breast cancer research.
Participants spent the morning moving from one workout to the next, taking part in indoor cycling, strength training, mat Pilates and yoga. The morning ended with a run or walk around Lake Katherine.
Heights Cycle joined ChuloFit, The Do Good Movement, Clearly Reformer Pilates and Run 2 the Pub to put the event together.
But the workout was only part of the reason people showed up.
Palos Goes Pink raises money specifically for research into stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, a cause that is particularly close to Wenstrup.
Her friend and Heights Cycle studio manager, Jackie Seiner, has been living with metastatic breast cancer for eight years. The cancer spread to Seiner’s brain, but she has continued working and living a full life.
Wenstrup said Seiner has far exceeded the expectations she was initially given.
“She’s amazing. She never misses work, and she lives a very full life despite having this disease that has no cure,” Wenstrup said.
Watching Seiner continue to work and live her life has made the cause even more personal for Wenstrup.
“I wanted to help and have since become so passionate about this cause that impacts so many women, and in turn, so many families,” she said.
Money raised through Palos Goes Pink was donated to Rush University Medical Center, where Seiner receives treatment and doctors are working on breast cancer research.
The fundraiser brought in $20,000 last year, and organizers set a goal of $25,000 this year.
Palos Goes Pink also received a boost from the City of Palos Heights this year. The city declared October Breast Cancer Awareness Month and helped put a dozen Palos Goes Pink banners along Harlem Avenue.
The banners, sponsored by local businesses, served as a reminder throughout the month of the cause behind the fundraiser.
There was plenty of community support beyond the Oct. 3 event, too.
A pre-party was held Oct. 1 at Durbin’s in Tinley Park, where participants and members of the public could enjoy food and drinks, listen to live entertainment and enter raffles. Local businesses donated prizes, including gift baskets and a bicycle.
Van Gogh Salon in Palos Heights also collected donations throughout the month.
Businesses supporting Palos Goes Pink included Molson Coors, Clean Eatz of Orland Park, Kerlin Walsh Law, Pass Health Foods, PH Nutrition, Durbin’s, Darla’s, Rosaura Alfaro with Coldwell Banker and Melissa Casserly with Baird & Warner.
Wenstrup said the support from the community and the city meant a lot to her. She also thanked Alderman Heather Begley and Mayor Straz for getting behind the effort.
For Wenstrup, the best part of Palos Goes Pink has been watching people come together for something bigger than themselves.
“When we come together and work toward a common goal, we are unstoppable,” she said. “That feeling of reaching higher, going faster or feeling stronger is that much sweeter when we are inspired by and working for others.”
That spirit was evident at Lake Katherine on Oct. 3, where people came together to exercise, visit with friends and support a cause that has affected so many families.
“I wanted to help,” Wenstrup said.
Four years later, that simple idea has turned into an event that brings people together while raising money and awareness for those living with breast cancer.
