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River Vale Police Officer Valeri Guglielmotti (CLIFFVIEW PILOT photo. No re-use without hyperlink)
“Through early screening, my cancer was diagnosed at the earliest of stages, when the disease can be treated successfully,”
Guglielmotti told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
For that reason, Guglielmotti is joining a brigade of policewomen from New Jersey and New York – assembled by a Hillsdale patrol officer – who’ll be walking in this Sunday’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk in Overpeck Park.
They call themselves the “Ladies in Blue Fighting in Pink.”
“I am overwhelmed and amazed by the response of my fellow officers’ participation in this event,” said Guglielmotti, who has been cancer-free for two years. “I think it is a wonderful idea. As someone who faced this disease, I am extremely grateful for their support.”
“Early detection screenings save thousands of lives each year,” Guglielmotti told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “Hopefully by walking together we can bring even more attention and awareness to this deadly disease, raise money to fight it and save lives.”
WHAT: Making Strides
WHEN: Oct. 16
WHERE: Overpeck Park, R’field Pk
NOTE: Registration 9 a.m.; walk at 10
CLICK HERE for DIRECTIONS
MORE: Ladies in Blue / Making Strides
With less than a week until the walk, the ranks of female officers involved continues to grow. It began as a gesture of support by Washington Township Officer Heather Castronova and Old Tappan Officer Katie Weaver. They quickly signed up fellow Officers Shane Broglia of the Ridgewood PD, Rachel Morgan and Christine Udis of the Paramus department, and Edgewater Officer Christina Rae.
Before they knew it, word had spread. NYPD policewomen has enlisted, as have a special group of retired female officers.
SHOUT OUT to PBA Local 206 for donating $500. The Pascack Valley local represents officers from Emerson, Haworth, Old Tappan, Oradell, Park Ridge, River Vale, Washington Township, Westwood, and Woodcliff Lake
“I’m so happy that all of us are coming together like this for something so good,” Castronova told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “It isn’t often that we get a chance to do something like this.” The ranks include nearly three dozen female officers from, among other departments: Hillsdale, Englewood, Woodcliff Lake, Parsippany, Newark, the Bergen County Police Department and the Rutgers Newark campus police.
On top of that, retired Westwood Police Officer Andrea Napier-Brazofsky is gathering a group of fellow female retirees to participate.
“My mother was diagnosed in 2008, fought it and won, but was rediagnosed in March,” Morgan told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “She just finished her last chemo and is doing great!.”
Udis’s mom also survived breast cancer, and the two Paramus officers immediately agreed, Morgan said, “in honor of our moms and to show all of the women out there who are battling this disease that we support them.
“They can beat breast cancer.”
Dozens of teams are readying themselves for Sunday — among them, groups from Bergen Jaguar, David Michael Hair Studio, Holy Name Medical Center, Metropolitan Plant & Flower Exchange, Northern Valley Regional High School (Demarest), Retro Fitness, United Water and Wells Fargo Bank.
TO DONATE: 1.800.227.2345 or cancer.org. Or go to: Heather Castronova’s Making Strides DONATIONS Page
If you are a police officer and want to participate, go straight to “Ladies in Blue / Making Strides.” T-shirts are being made with the names of all participating departments on back — so don’t wait until the day of the event: Sign up now.
CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Bergen police ‘ladies in blue’ unite to raise breast cancer awareness, funds
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