Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Monday, May 12, 2008

Around 50,000 turn out for 16th annual Race for the Cure

By The Associated Press

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Around 50,000 people turned out in Bloomington for the 16th annual Race for the Cure.

Thousands gathered at the Mall of America wearing pink signs with the names of mothers, daughters, sisters and friends who have had breast cancer. Many of them were breast cancer survivors themselves.

But it wasn’t just about women with breast cancer.

Sisters of Larry Bragelman joined the walk to remind people that men can get breast cancer, too. Bragelman was diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago. He had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. But the cancer came back, and he died last August.

So Pat Sweeney, of Shoreview, and Kathie Hagenah, of Edina, along with their daughters, wore pink signs in his memory, with his name written in blue.

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