Foundation empowers women fighting cancer

Jennifer Zona (l) participates in a workout during the Fight Like a Girl … Against Cancer! fundraiser held Jan. 31 at Maximum Fitness in Long Branch. CLAIRE SHEPROW LONG BRANCH — Women undergoing treatment for cancer were the focus of the high-energy collective workout “Fight Like A Girl … Against Cancer!, which aimed to empower cancer victims and raise funds for their care. TheBeauty Foundation forWomen’s Cancer Care held the second “Fight Like A Girl!” event on Jan. 31 at Maximum Fitness in Long Branch, which sponsored the fundraiser.

The event included kickboxing, TRX suspension training and circuit training.

Among the women who benefited from the event is a 30-year-old Long Branch mother of two undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

“I just think it’s a great thing to do for people that need it,” Wendy Estrada Martinez said last week. “I think it is a great opportunity to raise money for people that don’t have the money.”

Sheiia Piehler works out during a fundraiser sponsored by the Beauty Foundation for Women’s Cancer Care, which supports women undergoing treatment for cancer. CLAIRE SHEPROW Martinez was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2009. She underwent chemotherapy until September and is now going through the process of reconstruction.

Martinez said she is feeling better now that her chemotherapy treatment has ended.

“I’ve been doing much better now that I’m not on chemo. My hair is growing back, and I’m feeling a little bit better.”

Carla Scarabino, trustee for the Beauty Foundation for Women’s Cancer Care, explained the history and work of the charity.

“We’ve been around for a year now, and we try to do a couple of things. One is [to] just directly help women that are undergoing treatment for any kind of cancer. We’ve been able to help people by giving them direct monetary grants that they can use for things like groceries or child care.

According to its mission statement, the foundation is dedicated to “honoring the courage, supporting the strength and empowering women facing cancer, one woman at a time.”

Scarabino said the charity finds women through referrals.

Martinez, who works as a medical assistant in Freehold and Colts Neck, said two people referred her to the charity.

“It was through a friend of mine that recommendedme, and also a patient from my job that recommended me as well,” she said.

Martinez said her bills are piling up since she has been unable to return to work for a few months, and she has exhausted her disability payments. That’s when the foundation stepped up.

“They just contacted me right before Christmas and said they were having this event. They wanted to try to help because of all the bills I’ve been getting. I’ve been out on disability for more then six months, but my disability stopped.

“I haven’t been getting paid, and I have a lot of hospital bills and doctors’ bills.”

“We will hopefully be able to help her get through some of the payments she had until she can get back to work,” Scarabino said.

Scarabino said last week’s event is the second the foundation has organized, and a third is being planned.

“We’d like to do these things more often,” she said. “Most of the people in our committee work out, so we thought, Wouldn’t it be great to do this together?”

For the event, the owner of Maximum Fitness donated the use of his gym.

“Scott Perotti’s sister is a committee member, and he said he would donate his time and donate his gym,” Scarabino said.

Scarabino said that $10,000 was raised at last year’s event, partly because of one very large donation.

“We had one women donate $5,000,” she said. “We already have people sending donations.

“What we are finding is when we get the publicity, people will just give us the donations. Our goal is to help as much as we can as many people as we can.”

Scarabino said a lot of friends and family members of women going through cancer don’t know how they can help, and the foundation provides a way for them to provide that help.

“What happens when we do these events is, friends and family want to help out and don’t know how to do that,” she said. “It is a very inexpensive way, but we raise a decent amount of money.”

Martinez said her two children have been supportive throughout her illness.

“They’ve been great,” she said. “The kids have been really good through the whole thing. They dealt with me losing my hair. Most kids would probably be embarrassed, but not them.

“They were, like, ‘Mom, you look beautiful, you look great.’ Most kids wouldn’t do that.”

In addition to participating in the workout, Martinez said she wants to help raise awareness about breast cancer and the need for vigilance.

“I want to raise awareness of breast cancer and how important it is to go for your yearly mammography and self-examinations,” she said.