Lots of faith, hope, love, prayer and long walks got Tom Keilty through his wife's illness and death last year from breast cancer at age 50.

In honor of his beloved Ruth, who was first diagnosed with breast cancer at age 39, Keilty is fighting for a cure for breast cancer by recruiting hundreds, hopefully thousands, of walkers for the annual "City of Hope Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer."

Keilty, 51, a regional leader for Primerica Financial Services and Holy Name of Mary parishioner in San Dimas-La Verne, began forming "Team Ruthy" for City of Hope's October fundraiser just a few months after his wife died on March 10, 2005. Hoping for 100 participants, he was elated when 235 people joined Team Ruthy to raise $17,000.

"I am channeling my love and passion for Ruth towards fighting for a cure for breast cancer. This has helped me on the road towards healing my brokenness," said Keilty, whose 25 1/2-year marriage to Ruth produced three children, now aged 22, 21 and 17.

Surprised that only six weeks of recruitment effort in the San Dimas community resulted in his Team Ruthy raising the third-highest amount of money for last year's walk (Wells Fargo's team came in first), Keilty decided to brainstorm about how to raise $100,000.

"God gave me the idea to have a couple of events during the year," said Keilty. By happenstance, he met a former coach of his son's community basketball team currently employed at San Dimas' Raging Waters water park. Knowing Raging Waters allowed occasional onsite fundraisers, Keilty asked his friend if the park had ever sponsored a breast cancer event.

"No, but it's a possibility if you can get 800 people to attend," was the answer.

"No problem," Keilty replied.

Confident of God's help, Keilty is pre-selling tickets for an exclusive fundraising event May 6 (10 a.m.-5 p.m.) at Raging Waters, the day before it officially opens for the summer season. A portion of pre-sale proceeds --- $8 from each $28 adult ticket and $4 from each $24 child ticket --- will be donated to City of Hope's 11th annual Walk for Hope on Oct. 8, 2006. Ticket prices include a single use food voucher up to $7.

"Our goal is to have 2,500 people at Raging Waters and raise $25,000," said Keilty. All of the water park's rides will be open during the fundraiser and Keilty has lined up a number of "extras" including entertainment by a live band and DJ, 4-on-4 volleyball and "give-aways" from community vendors throughout the day.

Besides being a fun family day, Keilty hopes to raise awareness about the benefits of early breast cancer detection and inspire more people to participate in City of Hope's October fundraiser.

"City of Hope extended my wife's life for 12 years, and now it's time to pay back," said Keilty. "We are on a mission to make a difference for tens of thousands of families like ours."

Also, Keilty is on a personal mission to inspire husbands whose wives may be one of the over two million women living in the U.S. who have received treatment for breast cancer. "Most men don't deal with cancer well," said Keilty.

In 1990, three years before his wife's breast cancer diagnosis, Keilty discovered he had testicular cancer. Keilty leaned on his faith to get through the radiation treatment.

"I had a reckoning when I was laying in bed recovering," he said. "When you go through adversity, you draw from what you have. Prayer gave me so much peace."

Prayer was a constant in Ruth's life as well. The couple attended a centering prayer workshop at their parish in 2001, after Ruth's cancer reoccurred following a seven-year remission. According to Keilty, Ruth asked God to use her illness "for his good."

"In the last year of her life, we would overhear her saying to visitors how awesome God was, how she asked God for peace and he granted it to her immediately." Looking through her Bible after his wife's death at home, Keilty found the following prayer written in his wife's handwriting: "God, regardless of how I feel, regardless of my difficult circumstances, I will praise you because you are worthy."

"We are very blessed to have so many family members and friends who have reached out to us with prayers and words of encouragement," said Keilty. "Our family's mission now is to reach out and help other families who are facing this horrible disease."

To purchase tickets to the May 6 event at Raging Waters in San Dimas, contact Tom Keilty: (909) 592-5906 or tjkeilty5@yahoo.com For more information on City of Hope's Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer, a family-oriented, noncompetitive walk that raises funds to support breast cancer research, treatment and education programs at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, visit: www.walk4hope.org.

Breast Cancer
Facts:
---Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.
---More than 250,000 women in the U.S. will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2006. Nearly 41,000 women will die from the disease this year.
---The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about one in eight. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about one in 33.
---Breast cancer death rates are going down. This decline is probably the result of finding the cancer earlier and improved treatment.
---More than 1,700 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006.

Hope:
---City of Hope scientists are conducting research aimed at tumor cell markers such as carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), which are present in various malignancies, including breast cancer. Investigators have designed a class of cancer-seeking proteins called monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), which detect and destroy cancer cells.
---The highly advanced TomoTherapy Hi-ART System represents the next generation of leading-edge radiation therapy technology and provides City of Hope oncologists with unprecedented ability to deliver radiation therapy with surgical precision. This means more effective treatment to the tumor, with reduced dose to normal organs, resulting in significantly reduced side effects. The TomoTherapy system has broad applicability to many forms of cancer, including cancers of the prostate, breast, lung and brain.
---A growing number of important cancer therapies are based on research pioneered by City of Hope scientists, including the drugs Herceptin and Rituxan. Herceptin is used in the treatment of breast cancer.

Source: City of Hope Cancer Center