Helping the Next Kristi

By: Tom Blue, Ellis & Winters
Race Sponsor and Team Fundraiser

Our law firm became a sponsor of the Triangle Race for the Cure on December 17, 2008.  That was the 30th birthday of Kristi Winters Walker, the last birthday she would live to see. 

Two months before, after a difficult pregnancy, Kristi was admitted to the hospital for an emergency C-section.  In the hospital, the previously undetected reason for the difficult pregnancy became stunningly clear.  Battling the tears in their own eyes, Kristi’s doctors and nurses broke the news:  Kristi had aggressive, fast-moving Stage IV breast cancer.

Kristi spent most of the next four months in the hospital, a lot of that in the ICU, fighting bravely, trying to recover so that she could go home and raise her three young boys.  On Friday, February 13, she could fight no longer.  Her middle child, then two years old, still checks with his grandfather periodically for reassurance: “Mommy is okay now in heaven, right?”

We became a sponsor because we want to help raise awareness of the risks of breast cancer among young women in particular.  In addition to our sponsorship of the Race, we also organize a team that participates, Kristi’s Krew.  We were astounded and humbled last year when so many people signed up for the team that it raised $38,687, a new team record for Komen NC Triangle Race for the Cure.  Over the past two years, between the sponsorship and Kristi’s Krew, the staff and friends of Ellis & Winters have raised over $80,000 for the fight against breast cancer.  We are very grateful for their support. 

We want Komen NC Triangle to continue helping women in need in our community.  We want young women, whose daily focus is properly on careers or children or travel or education or any or all of those, to take the time to do self-exams.  We want young women, even those who have no risk factors and who have no reason to be concerned about breast cancer, to get annual check-ups anyway.  We want to help the next Kristi have a better chance of winning the fight.