Cancer doesn’t discriminate. I never thought I would give cancer a compliment, but it is true. Cancer doesn’t discriminate; cancer does not care if you are young or old, rich or poor, male or female, white, black, or blue.

Cancer doesn’t care if you have volunteered countless hours raising awareness and money for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer events. We should not be surprised when cancer reaches out and says, “Tag, you’re it!” to one of our own volunteers.

But the reaction over and over again is, “Seriously? After all she has done?” Yes, seriously, breast cancer doesn’t discriminate. One in eight women in the US will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in her lifetime.

So a funny thing happened on the way to Making Strides. Our volunteer Planning Committee literally starts planning for the next year’s event before the current event has been held. Breast cancer doesn’t have a season, it doesn’t just affect people in October. The American Cancer Society is fighting cancer and supporting people on their cancer journey year round.

The funny thing wasn’t all that funny: one of our own was diagnosed with breast cancer. We do laugh about it, as anyone who has faced cancer will tell you that humor can be good medicine.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is a volunteer-run event, and at the core of the event’s success is a dedicated group of volunteer Directors. Each Director oversees a specific aspect of the event and coordinates the volunteers for that area.

Until recently, out of the eight Directors, only our 2013-2014 event chair is a breast cancer survivor, our own personal one-in-eight statistic. But we all have our own personal connection to breast cancer, a reason that we are committed to Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

I have always believed that there are two ways to be a survivor: You can survive the disease, or you can survive the loss. My personal connection to Making Strides is being part of the Sarah’s Soldiers team, which honors my friend Sarah Dodge Raney, who lost her battle with breast cancer at the young age of 26.

Kathi Russ is a Cure Crusader, a team formed by her dear friend Trish Reid, who later lost her battle with breast cancer. Through our work with teams and our common passion to make strides against breast cancer, Kathi and I have become fast friends. If it wasn’t for Making Strides, our paths may have never crossed, a fact that people who know us through our volunteer work would be surprised about. To them, we are Kathi and Kimberly, Kimberly and Kathi, the “Making Strides Ladies,” two minds with a common cause.

So this past February, when I was doing some follow-up diagnosed breast screenings and Kathi was doing her routine annual mammogram, we both found ourselves awaiting results that may give us a breast cancer diagnosis. We joked that we were doing Quality Control of our Flagship Sponsor, Concord Imaging Center, as we waltzed in and out for our appointments.

Our “we got this” mantra, usually reserved for all things Making Strides, took on new meaning. It turned into, “I got this, but please don’t let it be her.” But never once was it, “Why me?,” as we have always known that breast cancer isn’t about one of us, it is about all of us, as breast cancer affects too many of us.

My friend Kathi received her breast cancer diagnosis from a routine mammogram. It was caught early, she had her surgery, and on August 18 she finished her last radiation treatment. She gives credit to the many wonderful people who she has met through her volunteer work for showing her how to navigate the cancer journey and is very thankful for the screening and cutting-edge treatments that have been made possible by the American Cancer Society with funds that Kathi has help raised over the last 16 years.

I am thankful for Kathi’s friendship. This year I have another reason to Make Strides Against Breast Cancer. I invite you to join me on Sunday, October 19. To register, visit MakingStridesWalk.org/ConcordNH. For information on forming a team, e-mail Teams@nullConcordStrides.com. And please, sign up for a mammogram reminder at AndoverBeacon.com/Breast-Cancer-Screening.