79-year-old New York woman has participated in every Komen Greater New York City Race for the Cure
Sunday is the 2025 Komen Greater New York City Race for the Cure, and this year marks its milestone 35th anniversary.
CBS News New York's Jenna DeAngelis met a Rockland County woman who has been participating in the race since the very beginning. For her, supporting the mission to end breast cancer is personal.
"It's everyone's responsibility"
Dr. Ellen Mandel, of New City, has a collection of t-shirts from every race. She says they hold a special meaning.
"Behind the beautiful t-shirt is a message. Please help us to fight breast cancer. We count on you. No one is exempt. It's everyone's responsibility," she said.
That's why the 79-year-old has been joining the Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure since the very beginning.
"And every year that I come, it's as if it were the first year," she told CBS News New York at a past race.
Her involvement with Susan G. Komen began more than three decades ago with a phone call from a friend whose sisters were battling breast cancer.
"She said to me, 'I have a favor.' I said, 'What's the favor?' She said, 'I want you to get involved and join the race committee for the Race for the Cure and join the founding mothers and fathers,'" Mandel said.
Mandel joined and never looked back.
"When it hits home, it's a whole other story"
Working as a professor at Pace University, she started its team for the race, along with it, a proud tradition.
"We've won every year for the largest university team," Mandel said.
But as more time passed, it got more personal. She has lost friends to cancer, and in 2014, she learned she has leukemia.
"You can be empathetic, you can be sympathetic, but when it hits home, it's a whole other story," Mandel said.
Then, in 2017, her daughter was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"I don't think as a mother, you could have anything worse than knowing that your child is in any kind of danger," Mandel said.
"We make a difference one step at a time"
She says cancer is a family disease because it impacts all members, and rallying around one another at this annual event makes a big difference.
"Over the last three and a half decades, just in New York alone, Komen has been able to fund nearly $50 million in research in the local area, which is about 160 grants that we were able to provide," said Stacie Spitzkoff, executive director of Susan G. Komen New York.
Spitzkoff says research is positively impacting treatment and outcomes. Money raised is also funneled into Komen's Patient Care Center to provide financial support.
"Because we feel very strongly that nobody should have to choose between putting food on their table or having transportation to their doctor visits while going through treatment," Spitzkoff said.
One of Mandel's many t-shirts reads, "We make a difference one step at a time."
"That's true," Mandel said.
She says small steps make a big difference, and she will continue wearing her Race for the Cure t-shirts and proudly walking alongside the many fighting for a cure.
The 2025 Komen Greater NYC Race for the Cure steps off at 9:30 a.m. Sunday in Central Park. For more information, visit komen.org/race.