11th Annual Amanda Hichkad CCA Celebration Walk (2024): Walking with Courage

Walking with Courage

Welcome to the "Walking with Courage" walk team. We appreciate your thoughtful consideration and support. This is the eleventh year that my team, Walking with Courage, will host a team at the walk on Saturday, May 11, 2024. It was in May 2014, that Amanda Hichkad proposed that Chesapeake Cancer Alliance hold a walk to celebrate cancer patients in this community. We have honored her dream and have raised over $1 million dollars conducting this annual event.

This year, November 2023-November 2024, is a very special year for Chesapeake Cancer Alliance. We are celebrating our 20th anniversary. Over those twenty years, we have raised over $2.5 million dollars to support the cancer patients in our community through the programs and services of Cancer LifeNet. In recognition of CCA’s dedication, perseverance, and passion, the infusion center at the UM UCH Aberdeen Health and Wellness Center infusion center has been named in our honor of Chesapeake Cancer Alliance.

Every CCA volunteer has been personally touched by cancer. Whether the volunteer is a cancer survivor or has had a loved one challenged with a cancer diagnosis. It was the cancer diagnoses of my father, two brothers, nephew, and a number of friends and colleagues which inspired my family and me to become active in the care of cancer patients. The programs and services provided by Cancer LifeNet are free-of-charge to any cancer patient and their family in our community.

I sincerely wish that Suzanne T. Guzewich, my two brothers, my nephew and many other family members had had the opportunity to be treated for their cancers and had access to the programs and services provided by Cancer LifeNet. Having a nurse navigator on call to you, having dietary programs, exercise programs, acupuncture, counseling sessions and a financial social worker available to assist with the medical bills associated with cancer treatment might have made a difference in their lives. Dave and I have had a number of occasions during which we speak with cancer patients who have used or are currently using Cancer LifeNet. The services and programs have had an impact on their treatment and recovery. Doss Sams, our son-in-law’s father, relates numerous positive experiences when he was a patient at the Kaufman Cancer Center and used Cancer LifeNet.

A number of the Diez and Guzewich family members have been faced with a cancer diagnosis and are presently cancer-free. We honor each of those family members, Suzanne Diez, Jim and Nora Guzewich, Paul Nagle, and Doss Sams. We will always remember and hold dear in our hearts those family members that "Walked with Courage"; my Dad, Dave's Dad, my brothers, Doug and Rick, our nephew, Stuart, and our niece by marriage, Suzanne T. Guzewich.

The donations from this walk will be donated to Cancer LifeNet at the Kaufman Cancer Center in Bel Air, MD. Our family and I are committed to "pay it forward" for other cancer patients and their families. May we see families in the future be spared of the heartbreak that the Diez and Guzewich families have experienced over the past approximate 40 years due to a loved one's cancer diagnosis. May we also celebrate those family members who are fortunate to be in remission. Thank you for your support and kind consideration.

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