To the editor:
Please join us for the annual Breast Friends Walk to support breast cancer awareness and research. This annual walk will be held at Devereux Beach in Marblehead on Oct. 10 at 9:30 a.m. We hope you will consider donating online at https://because.massgeneral.org/event/breast-friends-walk-2021
This walk is very important to me and to my family. Breast cancer has been affecting our family for many years. In 2007, when I was just 2 years old, my maternal grandmother, Eleanor Canter, was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2009, my aunt, Kara Lucien, was diagnosed with breast cancer. A few years later, my paternal grandmother, Gail Lucien, was diagnosed, and during the fall of 2018 my mom, Elizabeth (Canter) Lucien, was diagnosed with stage-4 metastatic breast cancer. She fought hard for five months before passing away in February of 2019.
My mom was born and raised in Lynnfield to my grandparents, Eleanor and Lawrence Canter, who still reside there. My aunt, (her only sibling) Rebecca (Canter) Scenna, also lives in Lynnfield with her husband, John Scenna, and my three cousins and has been a teacher in Lynnfield for many years.
My mom graduated from Lynnfield High School and was a member of the National Honor Society, the student council, the field hockey team and was captain of the track team and more. She attended the University of Michigan and graduated from the College of Arts and Sciences as an English major in the honors program. She was an active member of the Delta Delta Delta Sorority and was a True Blue recruiter. She worked as an admissions counselor at Wentworth Institute of Technology prior to receiving her MBA from Babson College. Beth worked in marketing for two startup companies: Axiomatic Design and Mascot.com. Then, she spent several years working for the City of Melrose as the assistant to Mayor Rob Dolan, Lynnfield’s current town manager. My mom then moved to Yarmouth, Maine where she worked as an administrative assistant to the principal at Yarmouth High School. After returning to Melrose in 2016, Beth worked for the SDM Foundation in Melrose, helping clients improve their computer proficiency. Over the years, my mom never forgot where she was born and raised and was a proud Lynnfield Pioneer at heart.
My mom, Beth Lucien, is remembered as an intelligent, quick-witted, accepting and loving person. She was a beacon of love, strength, inspiration and positivity for our family and for so many others and she continues to be so very dearly missed. What she loved most was being a mother to me and to my two brothers, Joseph and Patrick Lucien, and watching us excel in school, sports, and in our social lives. I know deep in my heart that organizing this event is exactly what my mom would do if she were in my situation.
My aunt Kara and her daughter Grace participated in the Breast Friends Walk for many years and eventually Grace took over running the entire event. This year, Grace is away at college and has handed the reins over to me. Taking over and organizing the Breast Friends Walk is very personal to me and is one way I can honor my mom. This walk was always very important to her, before her own diagnosis, as a way to support our multiple family members who have been affected by this terrible disease. In the fall of 2018, after my mom was diagnosed, a huge group of family and friends came to the Breast Friends Walk on her behalf to show their support and encouragement, decked out in a sea of blue “Beth Strong” T-shirts. After seeing so many people come out to walk for her, as she was already too sick to walk, she wrote a note thanking them all. She wrote that it was extremely overwhelming and “Don’t ever believe that supporting people does not make a difference.” It was incredibly uplifting for our entire family to see the endless support from our community, near and far. People came down from Maine the night before and stayed in hotels so they could show their support, in person.
I am honored to now have an opportunity to play a bigger role in this important event. I hope you will donate to this important cause for people who continue to be affected by breast cancer and I also hope to see you at Devereux Beach to walk with me and my family.
You can help me make a difference in the lives of so many others battling breast cancer by helping me raise funds and improve access to cancer care for vulnerable and/or high-risk patients by coming out to The Breast Friends Walk at Devereux Beach in Marblehead on Sunday Oct. 10 at 9:30 a.m. Funds raised will go to breast cancer patients at the MGH Healthcare Center, which is a part of Massachusetts General Hospital.
Thank you for your support.
Emily Lucien
10th grade
Melrose High School
