Since their mom’s breast cancer diagnosis in July 2015, the Scalise daughters have raised more than $113,000 through their charity, Strides for Survivors. The family’s nonprofit is celebrating its 10th anniversary Jan. 31 with a walk around Chastain Park.
All proceeds the family nonprofit generates go directly to TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation, a Sandy Springs-based nonprofit addressing the gap in services for both the physical and emotional aspects of recovery.
Stephanie Scalise, deemed cancer-free in April 2016, said she credits her recovery and health to the rehabilitation center, citing its community feel and open discussion of her treatment options.
“The reason we chose TurningPoint as our sole beneficiary of Strides for Survivors is because there’s so much research and so much money that goes into that research,” Stephanie said. “You’re deemed cancer-free, and then you’re like, what now? All your support system is gone … and TurningPoint is there to help you navigate that emotional redevelopment, that thriving life that you’re rebuilding.”
Fighting cancer and recovery
“I wouldn’t be here talking to you if I had listened to my doctors,” Stephanie said, adding that women’s concerns are often dismissed. “Because I went in stage one, I came out of surgery stage three. It had invaded my lymph nodes. Ten of 13 were infected.”
She said her doctors initially downplayed the seriousness of her cancer and recommended only a lumpectomy, telling her she’d be “back on [her] feet in less than a month.” Scalise insisted instead on a rare, double radical mastectomy, essentially removing the entire organ.
“I had two more surgeries before the end of 2016, and at that point, I’m like, ‘Okay, I’m done, no more surgeries,'” Stephanie said. “I said, ‘I’m not going back to the hospital. I will pay out of pocket. I want a prescription to go to TurningPoint Breast Cancer Rehabilitation.'”
Stephanie said she cried tears of relief at her first appointment, which required a doctor’s prescription. The nonprofit provides recovering cancer patients with a community of people to support them through ups and downs.
“My physical therapist happened to be Jill Binkley, who started TurningPoint, and she understood me from the minute I walked in,” she said. “I felt at ease. I could tell her what the pain was, where it was, and what was going on.”
The nonprofit rehab center for cancer patients has two metro locations, one in Sandy Springs at 8010 Roswell Road and another in downtown Atlanta at 349 Decatur St.
Walking around Chastain
The 10th anniversary walk is 2.7 miles around Buckhead’s Chastain Park Trail near the Atlanta-Sandy Springs border. Stephanie’s daughters, Samantha, Lauren, and Emilie, created Strides for Survivors while they were students attending The Galloway School on Chastain Park Avenue.
“We have secured all of our sponsorships, and we are collecting donations from the community,” Stephanie said. “We are at a new location for our start and finish of the walk, which is the Chastain Horse Park.”
Last year’s snowstorm caused the family nonprofit to move the walk to a virtual event. With ongoing construction at Galloway, her daughters’ alma mater, Stephanie said the nonprofit walk has a new location. Participants will meet in the parking lot at 4371 Powers Ferry Road at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 31.
“We always said we were going to go until we hit $100,000 donated, and then we hit that last year, plus some,” Stephanie said. “Now it’s the 10-year anniversary, and I’m like, ‘I can’t give this up.’ We might move to biennially, like every other year … We definitely want to keep talking about TurningPoint and being on people’s radar … we just might not do the huge walk.”
Scalise girls stay involved
The Scalise family lives in Smyrna, moving there in 2005 when their eldest daughter Samantha started kindergarten
Stephanie said her daughter was privy to the beginning of her mother’s cancer journey.
“My middle daughter, Lauren, was in the car with me, running errands and picking up her older sister from softball practice at NYO,” Stephanie said. “I got a call from the doctor’s office, and she could just see my whole demeanor change.”
Lauren is now a second-year graduate student at the University of Tennessee, studying sports management. An essay she later wrote about that moment became the spark for Strides for Survivors.
Stephanie said her oldest daughter, Samantha, is now living in Asheville. She is volunteering with relief efforts, like World Central Kitchen, after Hurricane Helene.
Emilie is a senior at Columbus State University studying art. She wrote and illustrated the children’s book “My Mommy Has Cancer, But She’s Still My Mommy.” Emilie later adapted it into a coloring book to help kids process a parent’s illness.
This year, Samantha has a defined on-the-ground role with the vendors market. Lauren and Emilie are supporting the nonprofit’s work through their ongoing advocacy and storytelling.
“The best part of the walk for me is the family engagement, like everybody brings their dogs [and they’re] so excited to see each other once a year,” Stephanie said. “To watch these children grow up … they were coming to the walk when they were in their parents’ arms or in a stroller, and now they’re out there leading the pack or helping me with the kids zone.”
To register, visit the nonprofit’s website.
