‘30 for Ana’
“We do it … to keep her memory alive and raise much-needed funds.”
Daniel Barron, on his family’s efforts
The year Daniel Barron started running, his 30-year-old sister Ana was diagnosed with Stage 4 inflammatory breast cancer.
In 2005, Ana Barron Garcia had just had a baby when she noticed a rash on her breast. She went to two doctors who told her the rash wasn’t anything to worry about and prescribed antibiotics. When it didn’t go away, she made an appointment at The Rose, a Houston-area nonprofit breasthealth-care organization. That’s where her cancer was diagnosed.
Inflammatory breast cancer is a rare and typically aggressive disease in which cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast, causing it to look swollen, red or inflamed, according to the National Cancer Institute. It starts out looking like a rash and can cause inverted nipples.
Though her cancer was diagnosed at Stage 4, Barron Garcia underwent multiple treatments, survived the cancer spreading to her brain and lived five more years. She died May 12, 2010, after six months in hospice.
Early in her cancer journey, she started a charitable competition team, Ana’s Angels, to run the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure to End Breast Cancer with her brother always leading the pack.
“We’ve done Komen every year. There are times we’ve had groups of 100 people, but the number dwindled down as expected,” Barron said. “It’s mostly our immediate family that goes out there every year to participate in her honor and her memory.”
In addition to that annual event, the family started 30 for Ana, a 30-mile run to honor his sister and raise awareness about the particular cancer that killed her. The 30 miles are significant because that’s the distance between M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Grandview Cemetery in Pasadena, where Barron Garcia is buried. It’s the route of the race.
The event has raised $200,000 for The Rose since 2012. This year’s race will take place Nov. 3.
“Every year, we do it the first week of November as a way to keep her memory alive and raise much-needed funds for The Rose,” Barron said. “This will be our eighth year; it started off small with five of us doing it, me and my brother, sister and brother-in-law.”
His sister’s diagnosis and life with cancer pushed Barron to run farther, harder, faster. He was always an athlete, but running changed him.
Barron is training for his 11th Chevron Houston Marathon in January, and he will be running his first Boston Marathon in April. In the past few years, he has worked with a running coach and joined the Houston Harriers competitive running group to better his pace.
“Running is just me, playing against myself, pushing myself; I don’t have to worry about anyone else getting too competitive with me,” he said. “Running is competitive because you’re only trying to beat your own goals and PRs (personal records). And then every year, you see yourself improving.”