FIELD OF WOMEN - WINNIPEG

In 1998 I attended the very first Field of Women in Canberra - on that occassion I walked with my new friends Susan Tulley and Penny LaSette from NT Breast Cancer Voice in Darwin who have since gone on to become very special 'breast' friends of mine.

Winnipeg may be on the other side of the world to Canberra but there were so many similarities with that very first walk. I believe I was the only person there who would have been at both walks - and it seems incredible to think that I have been involved in breast cancer advocacy for the last 10 years - which I must say have gone in the blink of an eye!

It all began as I walked down to the main foyer of the conference centre and there below me was a sea of women - all donning white T-shirts - which we given, at no cost, to each of us and so were all the silhouettes. There was a table with permanent markers so we could each write a message on the silhouettes - but I don't think a lot of people knew this was what often happened - but they soon caught on!

The weather had been terrible all day, so it was decided not to go ahead with the planting on the lawns, but instead, we were all to walk to the Legislative Building and assemble on the grand staircase behind the speechmakers. Umbrellas were provided for all walkers and the roads were closed by the police making our walk easy and we also managed to avoid the worst of the rain puddles.

In Canberra 10 years earlier we had also walked in the rain, in silence, holding our pink silhouettes. We had assembled without the great technical fanfare that has accompanied more recent fields. Lyn Swinburne and Raelene Boyle spoke through a handheld megaphone at the first field and it was then that the BCNA was launched - after the consumer conference held in Canberra where I got the idea for Dragons Abreast.

It seemed like karama, that in this, the tenth year for Dragons Abreast, I should be here in Winnipeg, again following a conference, walking in the rain, again towards the parliament building, surrounded by amazing friends and survivors.I walked with some of my more recent friends, Eleanor Nielsen and Jacqui Kolber from Dragons Abreast Toronto and Cathy Prusak from Chemo Savvy. These are 3 women that I have also shared many special occasions with over the last 8 years and we have also bid farewell to many team mates that we all knew. It was a special time.

The walk was silent - and it reminded me very much of that very first one in Canberra. A difference between the walks was that we also scattered rose petals as we walked - beautiful hues of pinks and reds lined the street like a carpet.

Scotia Bank staff led the walk and as we approached the Legislature Building lined each side of the walk way. They stood in silent tribute to us as the gentle rain sprinkling down, as through the heavens were also silently weeping, pink silhouttes held proudly as we filed past.

Once inside the building the official speeches were made, Lexie Warren who is the Community Liaison for Dragons Abreast Australia and also involved with BCNA spoke and then Cathy Prusak followed up with the mammogram song which, originated here in Winnipeg. Jeff Dunn, Barb Schumley & Lexie Warren at the Field of Women

At the end of the cermonies no one was quite sure of what to do with their silhouttes but a bunch of us planted ours out in the flower beds. A vivid splash of colour in the grey day.

Todays newspaper carries a photograph but it is disappointing that there is no story linked to the photograph which explains what the Field of Women represents or its origins in Australia.
Michelle