Race for the Cure Celebrates a Journey

Sahar Aboutalebi has walked in the Race for the Cure for the last four years. She is gearing up to do it again this Sunday at Fashion Island in honor of her mother.

At this year's 20th Annual Race for the Cure, Aboutalebi will walk with Team Mina, named her after her mother, who was diagnosed in 2004 and was declared cancer-free two years ago.

"We do it to celebrate her journey and to be in a community where others have been through what we have been through," said Aboutalebi, 28, of Newport Beach.

She says that along with playing a pivotal role in her 58-year-old mother's life, cancer has also left an influential impact on her family. 

"Kids in our family remember her being sick and losing her hair, so it was a great educational experience for them," Aboutalebi explained. "We are all very close so when my mom was going through chemotherapy and radiation. It really heightened our awareness too."

Throughout her fight against cancer, Mina and her family has had a strong support system, a large portion coming directly from  Komen OC.

"A big part of what I went through was that no one understood what I was feeling for my mom. So with the race, you take an awful thing and turn it into a day of hope, and that's what gets us through."

Komen OC says about 1,900 Orange County women will face a breast cancer diagnosis this year. The organization has invested $1.9 billion to help in the battle against breast cancer.