Warriors Week supports fight against women’s cancers

Bras for a Cause.

What better event could there be in the fight against breast cancer and other women’s cancers?

That fundraiser is one of nearly a half dozen events that also include a candlelight vigil, an Aggie football game tailgate, local high school football games, an all-star music festival and that are all part of Warriors Week, Saturday, Oct. 7-Sunday, Oct. 15, in Las Cruces.

“We’re bringing back Pink Week,” said Warrior Week coordinator Marci Dickerson, a cancer survivor, owner of Game 1 and Game 2, entrepreneur and community activist. The Tough Enough to Wear Pink campaign was the local (and nationally recognized) fundraiser sponsored by Cowboys for Cancer Research.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month/

Here is the lineup:

• Saturday, Oct. 7: Breast Cancer 5K race: 9 a.m. (registration at 8:30 a.m.) at Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine (BCOM), 3501 Arrowhead Drive on the NMSU campus, $10, children under age 12 free; includes moment of silence, free health screenings, raffle prizes, preventive care education and more; sponsored by BCOM OB/GYN and Oncology clubs. Contact zayna.abdulla@burrell.edu, andie.evans@burrell.edu and vani.addepalli@burrell.edu. Visit Instagram @bcom_obgyn.
• Tuesday, Oct. 10: Candles for Hope candlelight vigil and luminarias, 7 p.m., Memorial Medical Center, 2450 S. Telshor Blvd.
• Wednesday, Oct. 11: Cancer Warriors and Goal Line Club tailgate, 5 p.m., Aggie Memorial Stadium, before the NMSU Aggie v Sam Houston State University
• Thursday, Oct. 12: Bras for a Cause fundraiser, 6 p.m. New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum, 4100 Dripping Springs Road, tickets are $100, local artists will decorate bras that will then be auctioned off, sponsored by Cancer Warriors, Memorial Medical Center and the Las Cruces Bulletin;
• Thursday-Friday, Oct. 12-13: “Paint the Field Pink,” Field of Dreams, 2501 Tashiro Road, football games begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12 (Mayfield High School Trojans v Goddard High School Rockets) and Friday, Oct. 13 (Las Cruces High School v Organ Mountain High School Knights)
• Sunday, Oct. 15: Stronger Together Music Fest, 11 a.m.-8:15 p.m., Game 1, 2605 S. Espina St., tickets are $25. 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: The Ghetto Blasters, 12:30-1:15 p.m.: The Band, 1:30-2:15 p.m.: Eli James, 2:30-3:15: Stepping Up, 3:30-4:15 p.m.: Satisfied, 4:30-5:15 p.m.: The 575 Band, 5:30-6:15 p.m.: Yarborough Band, 6:30-7:15 p.m.: Flat Blak, 7:30-8:15 p.m.: Rockabilly Strangers.

The music festival also includes The Ghetto Blaster performance Friday, Oct. 13, and Proud Pete performance Saturday, Oct. 14. Both begin at 7 p.m. at Game 1. The music fest was coordinated by Hedie Segreto with support from Hubbard’s Music.

“I have qualified as a cancer survivor,” said Dickerson, who underwent successful treatment for breast cancer over a nine-month period in 2022-23. “I was very blessed,” she said. “My treatment was so much easier than so many others.

Dickerson created Cancer Warriors earlier this year to continue the fight against female cancers, highlight the importance of the early detection of breast cancer and other cancers, make cancer patients aware of all treatment options and emphasize that a cancer diagnosis “is not the end,” she said.

“Warriors Week is a weeklong celebration of the battle and the win,” Dickerson said, and it a community celebration, she said, because female cancer has “touched so many lives. Everybody has either experienced it themselves or loves someone who has.”

Some of the funds raised during Warriors Week will pay for gift certificates for wigs and head coverings for cancer patients who need them, Dickerson said.

Cancer Warriors has created boxes available in doctors’ offices for female cancer patients that help them through all the major steps of cancer, Dickerson, said, including “Welcome to the Club,” chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

The boxes are filled with items that “make the journey of cancer suck less,” she said, including shirts with pockets that hold post-surgery drains and “cubbies” that keep the drains dry in the shower. The first box also includes a resource guide.

Dickerson said Warriors Week will become an annual event in Las Cruces.

Visit www.facebook.com/cancerwarriorslc.