Komen Acadiana is Proud to Announce This Year's Honorary Team New Balance Member

Delores Blair is a mother, a grandmother, and a three-time cancer survivor. She is also this year's Honorary Member of Team New Balance, a recognition that each Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure affiliate gives each year to a survivor who has beaten the odds and made great things happen in their community. She will be honored at Race for the Cure, which will be held on March 17. Register today at www.komenacadiana.org.

Delores beat thyroid cancer in 1997. Then in 2000, doctors caught Stage 1 breast cancer during a yearly mammogram. She endured chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But she fought through the difficulties in order to see her grandchild born. That cancer is now in remission.

Friend Neppie Trahan, who nominated Delores for this recognition, said that Delores is a petite person who is full of energy, and who tackled her own treatment with bravery and strong will. Delores began participating in Race for the Cure.

In 2006, Delores joined the Cajun Invasion Dragon Boat team, which is made up of breast cancer survivors. It is also a floating support group. The team has competed across the country, including Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee and even Canada. Over time, Neppie said, Delores felt herself getting stronger both physically and emotionally-able to feel like a survivor of cancer, rather than a victim.

Then in 2010, this survivor was met with another challenge-leukemia. Neppie said that Delores has tackled this recent challenge with characteristic strong will and grace. She sees early detection as a yet to her survival and shares that message whenever and wherever she can.

Delores speaks about the importance of yearly exams and breast self-examinations to various groups including the UL-Lafayette School of Nursing, Sertoma Club, Louisiana Ag Monthly. She is also an organizer of Pink Ribbon Jam, which raises funds for free mammograms and transportation to treatments for those who are unable to meet those costs. And she still makes every Race for the Cure, warming up with the Pink Ribbon Survivors on Race Day.

"She is here to tell us that we can survive and thrive if we all work together to find a cure. She is an inspiration to everyone that hears her story and ready to give encouragement to all that will listen. She has been given the gift of life and she wants others to know that there is hope if we all support each other," Neppie said.

Delores will be recognized at the race on March 17th both for her story of survival, as well as her fight for others going through similar challenges. Like the other survivors in our community, she is an inspiration.