'Healthy living matters': Donna Marathon, Mayo event brings hope to breast cancer patients

For Mayo Clinic's Dawn Mussallem, Donna Marathon weekend always means something extra.

"The energy in the entire city is tremendous," she said. "Everything is a little more pink."

The action on the road isn't the only facet of Jacksonville's weekend for the annual marathon to finish breast cancer, which renews its Mayo Clinic presentations on hope and wellness inside the home of the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday.

Three years after the coronavirus pandemic forced the 2021 race to shift to virtual mode and placed many of its in-person events on hold, the educational presentations mark the next step in the marathon's return to full speed ahead.

"It's about bringing the education component back to the Donna Marathon weekend," race director Amanda Napolitano said.

Mayo Clinic Florida's Comprehensive Cancer Center and Division of Hematology/Oncology are conducting the patient and caregiver symposium, which takes place from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at EverBank Stadium. Lunch is available for in-person attendees. Viewers can also watch the event online.

Mayor and race founder Donna Deegan is among the opening speakers, along with Olympian distance runner Jeff Galloway and Mayo Clinic breast cancer program director Edith Perez.

Mussallem, a breast health physician with the Mayo Clinic's integrative medicine and health program, brings her own experience as a survivor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma to her role as a featured speaker for Saturday's event.

"It's very personal to me," she said. "I remember being on that journey in 1999 and 2000 when there wasn't that kind of support available then. So I made it my mission."

Now a cancer survivor as well as a heart transplant survivor in 2021, celebrating her return to activity by racing the Donna Marathon in 2022, she said she focuses on helping empower patients with a straightforward message: "Healthy living matters."

Scheduled topics on Saturday's agenda focused on breast cancer patients and caregivers include the role of exercise and mental health, information on new technologies in treatment and screening and a cooking demonstration with meal ideas.

The event also includes a panel with patients' perspectives on breast cancer and a question-and-answer segment on the fight against the disease.

"There's so much myth out there, and so many patients live in fear after they receive this diagnosis," Mussallem said. "So we're giving them not only information, but we're giving them what they need to live with hope."

Plans are already in development for a future symposium for cancer patients later in the year, as well as for future editions of marathon weekend.

"We're planning on being back to continue this," Mussallem said.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Donna Marathon: Mayo plans breast cancer education at Jaguars' stadium