Posted October 26, 2012

Top: Toni's Team at this year's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Albany. Bottom: Toni Lyng (left) and team captain Gracene Sirianno.

Cancer has an effect on everyone.

Whether you are the one who has been diagnosed with it, or you’re a parent, a spouse, a son or daughter, a relative or friend, you know of someone who has been diagnosed with it.

In March of 2010, Shaker Junior High School English teacher Toni Lyng was diagnosed with breast cancer. While the news was devastating, it didn’t stop those close to her, including former SJHS teacher Gracene Sirianno from organizing a team in her honor, dedicated to raising money for the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

And so Toni’s Team was born, captained by Sirianno and SJHS teacher Christina Froehlich and consisting of Toni’s family, friends and district colleagues. Over the past three years, they have participated in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, raising thousands of dollars for breast cancer research. SJHS has also organized other fundraisers throughout the school, including a Wear Pink Day in her honor.

“As a member of Toni's Team, we are each playing a part in helping Susan G. Komen for the Cure end breast cancer forever,” Sirianno said. “So many of us have been touched by this terrible illness. Each day we hear of someone new that has gotten the diagnoses. Together, we are fueling the best science, boldest community and biggest impact in the fight against breast cancer. And we will not stop until this disease is gone forever. That’s our promise.”

In September 2010, Toni received her last round of chemotherapy and was considered cancer free.

The form of cancer that Toni had is called Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). This type of cancer effects younger women and is the most aggressive and least predictable subtype. TNBC is insensitive to some of the most effective therapies available for breast cancer treatment.

“It just frustrates me that this cancer is considered so rare and that not a lot of data is out there to support which treatments work the best,” Toni said.

Unfortunately, the return rate is very high and in May 2012, Toni was diagnosed for a second time.

This year, Toni set a goal of raising $2,000, but she had no choice but to increase that number due to the amazing support and response from Toni’s Team. Toni alone raised over $6,525, and Toni’s Team raised over $8,200 for breast cancer education, screening and research locally. A portion of the money raised also goes to what they call groundbreaking research, which is extremely important to the research for TNBC.

In total, teachers throughout the district raised about $10,000 for the Susan G. Komen foundation; something Toni is extremely thankful and proud of.

Since May she has received radiation treatments and surgery, and is once again, considered cancer free. Every three months, she goes for a scan to make sure it has not returned as it is of a very aggressive nature.

“It’s just incredible,” she said. “It means everything to me and to so many others. So many people think breast cancer is not so bad anymore, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. They are still using many of the same treatments that were being used 20 years ago when my aunt had it. There’s just so much more research that can be done and efforts like these make me so optimistic.”

If you would like to donate to Toni’s Team, you can visit her team’s webpage here.