Cancer Survivor To Juggle Soccer Ball 5K For TGP Fundraiser Race For The Place
On June 6th, National Cancer Survivor's Day, The Gathering Place (TGP) will hold their annual fundraiser event Race for the Place. To help promote and encourage participation, Lakewood resident and breast cancer survivor, Frances Inak, will walk 5K while juggling a soccer ball around Lakewood Park a few days before. If you are interested in donating or participating in the virtual race, you can register on The Gathering Place website: www.touchedbycancer.org.
The Gathering Place, which has two locations one in Westlake and one in Beachwood, offers free services to cancer patients and their families. The wide range of services include but are definitely not limited to physical, emotional, nutritional, and financial guidance, assistance with navigating complicated medical information for many different types of cancers, as well as group discussions and activities such as arts and crafts, cooking, Zumba, yoga, and tai chi. They provide free wigs and have even offered personal massage and reiki sessions. In general, they provide amazing comprehensive programming to uplift the body, mind, and spirit and support the needs of those touched by cancer in an inviting, friendly, warm, safe environment.
Frances received so much support from The Gathering Place throughout her journey as she navigated her doctor visits, medical prognosis, treatment options, and often just the overwhelming fear. TGP helped Frances stay hopeful during some very dark times, and she survived with much gratitude. While undergoing three surgeries and many weeks with limited activity and limited arm movement, to stay active Frances revisited a skill she had learned in her early 30s, kicking a soccer ball. She started to juggle the ball for outdoor activity, and as she progressed, she challenged herself to get to 1000 kicks without dropping the ball. Striving to succeed with kicking the soccer ball became intrinsically linked with her fight to succeed in kicking cancer.
In the spirit of creative Covid activities, Frances began filming her successful 1000 kick juggles at cool spots in Lakewood and throughout the Greater Cleveland area, and began posting them on her website, www.kickingcancer1000.com. To date there are over 265 successful videos. It is a virtual tour of interesting places and at each location there are 1000 kicks for cancer. As Frances juggled, she attracted attention of passers-by who would stop to talk and share their own stories and reactions, some of which are mentioned in her posts.
To celebrate a year of successful kicking, both soccer ball and cancer, Frances will walk 5 kilometers while juggling a soccer ball at Lakewood Park on June 3rd, the anniversary of her first 1000 kick video at Lakewood Park. Additionally, she will run in the virtual 5K Race for the Place on June 6th for the first time. She hopes that anyone who is interested will join her. She doesn’t promise that she won't drop the ball in the 5K juggle walk, which will take about 5 hours to complete, she pretty much has no doubt that she will, but she hopes at least to drop it less than a thousand times. :)
Article co-written with an anonymous friend
Frances Inak
Lakewood Community Member