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| With pink tye dye shirts and a joyful spirit they came one-hundred strong to support a family member, Chris Horner, a one-year cancer survivor. (Military Park, Indianapolis, Indiana). |
FAMILY, FASHIONS, AND FUN were on exuberant display on a sunny Saturday Indiana morning: to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research. Military Park looked like a Punjabi Mela: crowds, refreshments, music and festivities, dancing and fun, color and pageantry, and an all-inspiring contagious spirit bathed in a sea of pink on display and carrying you with it. There were survivors and cheerleaders, children and celebrities, mascots and supporters. Much like the past, the 24th Race for Cure was another fashion parade, a statement of community solidarity, and a family affair: multi-generational and multicultural enthusiastic crowd in their thousands from across the communities in Indiana, a riotous creative fun in joyful pink. It has been a blessing for me to participate in Indy's "Race for the Cure" for the past several years.
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| Indianapolis Mayor and Mrs. Greg Ballard, a welcome presence and amazing cheerleaders at community events and happenings. |
Susan G. Komen is a national organization dedicated to research and eradication of breast cancer, one of the most deadly diseases that claims millions of lives each year in America and around the world. Breast cancer has an international impact: affecting 1 in 8 women in the USA in their lifetime; early detection and research has improved the survival rates to go from 70% in early 1980's to 99% today, according to Susan G. Komen organization. Cancer is a growing menace to human life and happiness across the world.
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| KP Singh with Indiana Pacers Mascot "Boomer" and friends lending excitement to the festivities. |
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| "Wall of Hope 2015" with thousands of messages of loving support and prayers for survivors and victims of cancer. |
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| A youth band escorting the breast cancer survivors to a rally in their honor. |
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| It is all about the triumph of the human spirit. Some one has to envision it, others have to organize and give it a forward momentum, and many of us have to believe in it. Suddenly, the impossible does not seem so formidable. |
There were tears of losses and expressions of love on the "Wall of Hope," and especially-created fields of memories and prayers, joys and hugs of hope and miracles that welcomed and celebrated the one to 60 year survivors of this terrible disease of breast cancer as they passed through the arches of pink balloons to the noise of cow-bells by well-wishers and led by a band playing robustly joyous music.
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| Families join from throughout the State in coordinated outfits at the 2014-Race for Cure. |
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| Tens of thousands of Race for the Cure participants in the 5-K Walk all committed to a common goal of fundraising, creating awareness, and finding a cure for breast cancer all in one family friendly event. |
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| KP Singh with U.S. Congresswoman Susan Brooks at the 2014-Race for the Cure. |
This was a spectacle of families and community working together to conquer a disease that robs millions across this world, and Indianapolis was up front and center in this battle to discover answers, to build and restore hope for those threatened and victims of this deadly disease. I was proud to witness this mass of humanity saying with one heart and spirit; with their dance steps, pink walking shoes and imaginative pink crowns: impossible of a few years is possible today and may be a history tomorrow, and we have no intention to give up these gains when the adversary of health and happiness (cancer) is on the run and the long-awaited triumph is within sight. This was love, labor, and determination at work. Thank you Susan G. Komen for your vision, for showing us the way of engaging in this battle and making a valiant effort to reach the destination of a happy, healthy, and cancer-free world.
Indianapolis, Indiana USA www.KPSinghDesigns.com April 19, 2015
