The Komen Race for the Cure in Germantown celebrates its 18th anniversary on Saturday with the aim to fundraise $1 million dollar for the fight against breast cancer. 75% of the amount is dedicated to regional breast cancer patients and the rest is devoted to research.

The Memphis movement represents a race of thousands of people, inter alia breast cancer survivors, and was founded by Molly Webb Meisenheimer, a breast cancer survivor who dedicated herself for the cause.

Eisenheimer, the first chairwomen of the event, looks back to her days of fighting the disease with horror: "I was just a regular housewife -- had been a teacher. I was waiting to go back to work until my last child started kindergarten. That's when I found the lump in the shower on a Monday morning. My husband and I were not prepared for cancer at the age of 35," she states. "We had been married since we were 21. It was a shock."

After the inspirational victory over breast cancer, the women decided to help other victims and came up with the idea of a race that reports 1,763 participants at his debut performance. Since then the event got more and more participants and supports. Last year, 5,000 runners accomplished the 5 kilometer race. (IANS)