By Rashed Fakhruddin

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month – a month specially dedicated to bringing about awareness and raising funds to help fight breast cancer.

“We are facing a crisis where every year over a quarter million women are diagnosed with breast cancer and over 40 thousand die from it in the U.S. In fact, 1 in 8 women are expected to develop breast cancer in their lifetime,” Lindsey Langley, Senior Executive Director for the American Cancer Society of TN.

The color associated with this awareness month is PINK. The American Cancer Society has a nationwide initiative called Real Men Wear Pink.

“Real Men Wear Pink gives prominent men in our community a chance to make a meaningful impact in the fight against breast cancer during breast cancer awareness month by raising awareness and funds, where every dollar raised helps the American Cancer Society save lives from breast cancer by funding innovative breast cancer research as well as education and comprehensive patient support,” Audrey Williams, Associate Director, Development of the ACS and the lead member of the Real Men Wear Pink campaign.

Here in Nashville, this is the 4th year for the campaign. Last year former Titans/ Ravens all-pro Derrick Mason and I chaired the Real Men Wear Pink (RMWP) campaign, which included 60 men. This year, former Titans Music City Miracle hero Kevin Dyson and Q Taylor are co-chairing RMWP.

The RMWP initiative asks our candidates to commit to: Fundraise with the goal of each candidate raising a minimum of $2,500 or more, commit to wearing something pink throughout the month of October in promotion of their effort, and raise awareness about cancer through networks and social media platforms.

As part of my Real Men Wear Pink campaign, 17 fitness studio friends/owners have joined in putting together a Fitness Crawl to fight breast cancer.

Through the fitness crawl, we hope to help bring back more people into the fitness studios, many of which took a hit during the pandemic. This will be an opportunity to try out different types of workouts and possibly discover a workout that suits one’s interests to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Workouts will be of varying styles, including yoga, cycling, Pilates, boxing, barre, HIIT, ballet and dance. Whoever attends at least five different studio workouts and contributes each time will have their names entered in for a free Deluxe Sauna for two (2) guests at Pure Sweat Sauna Studio on 12th South.

The following is a list of the studios and the schedule for the

2nd Annual Fitness Crawl to Fight Breast Cancer 2021:

“Movement was such a crucial part of my life in all stages of my recovery: I learned to connect to my body including the challenges, the changes and the strength that showed up for me every single day. This fitness crawl is such an incredible effort to celebrate this connection, raise awareness and bring our community together to fight for and support the many that are impacted by breast cancer,” Aria Maslow, breast cancer survivor and former CycleBar instructor.

Author: NFM Staff