SACO, Maine — There's nothing like seeing a sea of people supporting a cause. That's the scene that appears every spring on Main Street in Saco during Mary's Walk.
The more people who walk, the more money is raised to help fight cancer. The walk was organized in 1999 in memory of Mary Kerry Libby. Libby passed away from Berkitt's Lymphoma in 1997 according to her husband Gene Libby.
"It was quite a loss for everybody and there was a good deal of grieving and I wanted to do something to turn that grief into action," Libby said.
Two years later and Mary's Walk was formed. A total of 424 walkers signed up to walk the same route that Mary enjoyed walking in Saco. Now there are around 2,500 participants. Many of them are survivors like Jodi MacPhail who beat cervical cancer in 2004.
"It's humbling, I should say actually, to be surrounded by people who have gone through so much more than I have," MacPhail said.
It can be an emotional day.
Volunteer Ken Janson joined the crowd in the very first Mary's Walk and has been involved every year since. Hearing the stories from survivors has always moved him. It was when he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in 2017 that he realized where survivors muster their courage.
"It comes from your family, your friends and it comes from inside," Janson said.
Janson wrote about that support system in his book Charting A Course Against Cancer.
Around $230,000 is raised a year, nearing $4 million since its inception. Money that goes to the Maine Cancer Foundation to make sure cancer, just like Mary's, becomes treatable.
"Had she been diagnosed today with Burkitt's Lymphoma, it is 90 percent more likely that she would have survived given the advents of treatments that are now available," Libby said.
In addition to Mary's Walk, there's also the Kerrymen 5K that takes place to raise money for cancer research. Both have attracted a combined 50,000 participants in the last 20 years.