Guests rolled in deep for the annual Strike Out Breast Cancer Tournament fundraiser held at the Santa Clarita Lanes on Saturday, aimed to raise funds to support the Susan G. Koman 2025 Walk to End Breast Cancer scheduled for later this year.
Over 100 people of all ages, including a dozen breast cancer survivors wearing pink shirts and sashes, spent their day enjoying a friendly bowling tournament.
But this tournament wasn’t just about who scored the highest or how many pins were knocked down during each round. It was also meant to raise over $5,000 to support the Guevara family, who plan on heading to San Diego in November to participate in a three-day walk to end breast cancer hosted by the Susan G. Koman Breast Cancer Foundation.
Anthony Guevara, a longtime employee and senior manager at the local bowling center, thought of the idea to raise money in support of breast cancer research and awareness after his mother and aunt were diagnosed with the illness years ago. With the support of his work family, they began to host an annual fundraiser at Santa Clarita Lanes almost a decade ago.
“It started very small-scale,” Guevara said, as he took a work break during the event to witness the large crowd enjoying each other’s company. Over the years, not only have they gained support from their community but also even bowling teams from different areas of Southern California, he said.
What’s most important to him is giving the cancer survivors a place to share their stories of resilience, including the challenges they’ve faced and how they overcame them, and all competitors took a pause to give the survivors a place to share, he said.
According to the Susan G. Komen official website, participants can select how many days and miles they’d like to walk, but the Guevara family members plan on fully committing to the cause. Anthony and his parents Tony and Christine, who is a survivor herself, plan on walking 60 miles over a three-day period.
To participate, they have to fundraise $2,300 per person, which is why they host the bowling tournament each year. If they don’t meet their goal, Tony said he has no problem paying the difference, because it’s something that has impacted not only his family, but also millions worldwide.
“I dont have cancer, but I am impacted (by the illness) because I grew up with her, I’ve known her since she was 12 years old,” Tony said, referring to Christine.
“She’s the love of my life. I don’t know what I would do without her, because she’s my life,” he added. “I thank her every day because she didn’t hesitate. She went ahead and did the double mastectomy. She was proactive; she did not have to do chemo or radiation. It’s impacted the family and that’s why we do the breast cancer walk in San Diego.”
For Christine, she not only walks for herself but to also remembers her sister, who lost her battle to the illness.
“She had cancer twice and she fought like hell,” she said as her voice broke. “When she was diagnosed the second time, we thought she was going to survive.”
To honor her sister every day, Christine said she now lives her life to the fullest and loves hard. Part of living life to the fullest is pushing her body to its limits and finishing the 60-mile walk to support something she truly believes in.
