Compton Walk for a Cure is in it's 12th year of raising breast cancer awareness
The Compton Walk for a Cure breast cancer event returned for its twelfth year, raising awareness, uniting survivors and providing free examinations.
The Saturday morning walk at the Centennial High School Football Field was much more than people wearing pink T-shirts getting their steps in. Event founders say the goal is early detection education for Black and Brown women.
Founder of the event, Satra Zurita, said she and her sister cofounded the walk 12 years ago, six years before she got breast cancer.
"I'm on the school board, she was on the city council and so we had an audience and we wanted to make sure women in our community -- Black and Brown and marginalized, access is sometimes difficult – knew the importance of early detection. It changes your survival rate tremendously if you find it early," said Zurita.
Statistics influenced Zurita's drive to raise awareness and help people. She said access to medical care, and information, is difficult for some in the community.
Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among Latina and Hispanic women and Black women are about 40 % more likely to die of breast cancer than white women.
Hispanic and Latina are about 30% more likely to die from their breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women.
"A lot of women are just paralyzed by fear. You just got to take the bull by the horn and do what you gotta do," said Zurita.
The free event had educational booths and experts talking about breast health and early detection, as well as performing exams.
At last year's Compton Walk For A Cure, medical experts performed more than 250 exams, and found 30-plus masses.
More than 2,000 were expected to attend this year's walk.
