Howa's hit-a-thons aid cancer victims

Cancer doesn't feel like much of a blessing.

It's a painful, heart-shattering, breath-taking, soul-battering experience that shreds the lives of those who are stricken and those who love them.

So it may seem strange that someday many people who don't know, and may never even meet her, will feel blessed that Kathy Howa once battled the disease that kills 40,000 women each year.

On Aug. 23, 2002, Howa sat in her doctors office trying to wrap her mind around what it meant to have "the most common type of breast cancer — invasive ductal carcinoma."

She let the fear, sadness, anger and defiance wash over her in those first days after the diagnosis and then she resolved not only to beat cancer but to help other women do the same. Before the softball coach and teacher at Rowland Hall-St. Mark's had even finished with radiation, she was organizing a fundraiser to do battle with the disease that had interrupted her life.

She ignored the fact that she lost her waist-length hair, several lymph nodes and had to wear a special sleeve on one arm to help with circulatory issues. She fought through the fatigue of chemotherapy and radiation and made up for any days she lost to sickness or sadness by organizing what she called the Swing-for-life Hit-a-thon.

The first hit-a-thon was a modest affair organized in just a couple of months. The softball teams of region rivals Juan Diego and North Summit hosted hit-a-thon fundraisers at their own schools and mailed Howa the money. The three schools raised just over $18,000.

Howa had found her purpose.

As dark as those first few hours, that's how brightly Howa's eyes shines anytime you ask her about cancer research. She's not just motivated, and she's so much more than passionate. Her life's work is now simple and at the same time huge — to raise money until no woman hears what she did six years ago.

She's taken what was a few hours of batting practice for a good cause and turned it into a two-day event that involves at least 43 high school softball and baseball teams. Howa is relentless and persuasive, and she's convinced dozens of business owners to help her eradicate breast cancer. In six years, her hit-a-thon has raised more than $185,000 for breast cancer research. The last two years that money has gone directly to the Huntsman Cancer Institute, which is where it will go again this year. Academy Sports donates pink T-shirts to the kids who raise money, and starting today Spaghetti Mama's Restaurants will offer envelopes to their customers in hopes of making her sixth Swing-for-life Hit-a-thon the most successful ever.