Cancer Walk is part of the fabric of the North Shore

LYNN – It?s made out of cloth, but Susan Raviv and Lee Anne Fredericks credit a lot of planning, a few glasses of wine, several takeout meals and memories – sad and glad – with helping them create a quilt celebrating the 25th annual North Shore Cancer Walk.The June 28 event is centered around a 6.2-mile walk that begins and ends at Salem Willows Park. Money raised by walk participants and event contributors will help pay to expand cancer care in North Shore Medical Center and the North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers.Fredericks has taken part in the walk since 2000 and Raviv since 2008, along with thousands of other walkers. They started talking during the 2013 cancer walk about creating a signature banner for the event and the idea grew into quilt-making plans.?We said, ?it?s the 25th anniversary, we should really do something,?” Fredericks said.Raviv and Fredericks made good on their pledge this year when they began work on the quilt in earnest. Fredericks, of New Hampshire, who is North Shore Medical Center Union Hospital?s nursing director, and Raviv, a Marblehead resident and NSMC health information management director, collected T-shirts commemorating each year the walk took place and started planning how to fashion the shirts into a quilt.?We asked around for shirts and people were so excited to help,” Raviv said.They centered this year?s 25th anniversary shirt in the middle of the quilt and used a quilting method called “stitch in the ditch” to secure the shirts to a backing material.?We did a lot of planning – we would chat a while, eat some takeout – we didn?t have a single argument,” Raviv said.Two months of work ended with the quilt completed last Saturday. Measuring five feet, six inches square, it is partly stitched together by memories. Fredericks? sister-in-law, Joyce Potter, died eight years ago from cancer.?She didn?t know she was sick and she went in and was told she had six weeks to live,” Fredericks said.Raviv has lost friends and acquaintances to cancer and said the quilt has triggered strong emotions in colleagues who have seen it and recalled the role they have played in making the walk a success for a quarter century.?I think we are both overwhelmed by the response we are getting. We wanted to make something symbolic,” Raviv said.Since Raviv and Fredericks unveiled it, the quilt has become a touchstone of sorts for people interested in donating to the walk (northshorecancerwalk.org). The pair hope to display the quilt during the walk and envision it on long-term display in the Cancer Center.Over the years, the walk has grown from an annual way to raise cancer-fighting money, to an event attracting teams formed every year to participate and a way to renew memories of people killed by cancer and others who have survived cancer.?It is so moving,” said North Shore Medical Center development officer Susan Lausier.