The Yées Ḵu.Oo Dancers perform at the end of the Celebration of Life Walk on Sunday at Bill Overstreet Park. The walk, hosted locally by Cancer Connection for more than two decades, occurs on National Cancer Survivors Day. This year’s local celebration featured the first bagpiper, Alaska Native dance group and Native land acknowledgement. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The Yées Ḵu.Oo Dancers perform at the end of the Celebration of Life Walk on Sunday at Bill Overstreet Park. The walk, hosted locally by Cancer Connection for more than two decades, occurs on National Cancer Survivors Day. This year’s local celebration featured the first bagpiper, Alaska Native dance group and Native land acknowledgement. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Bagpipes and dancers bring new life to annual cancer survivors walk

“Everyone is touched by cancer,” organizer says at Sunday event.

Bob King isn’t yet sure he’s a cancer survivor, but after five years after being diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, the news was good enough for him to show up and help carry a banner Sunday morning on behalf of others who’ve overcome the disease.

“I was diagnosed with this cancer five years ago and it probably had been growing inside me at least five years before that,” he said after joining about 50 other people in the Celebration of Life Walk from downtown’s Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park. “I hadn’t gone to previous cancer survivor events because I didn’t think of myself having much of a chance. Only recently I was told that my tumor may be gone. They don’t know for sure and there are other side effects, but now I feel much better.”

Bob King, center, helps carry a National Cancer Survivors Day banner at the beginning of a local Celebration of Life Walk from Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park on Sunday. King, afflicted with brain cancer for the past five years, said this is the first year he felt able to participate in the walk as a “cancer survivor” because his doctors say they can no longer detect the tumor that was in his brain. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Bob King, center, helps carry a National Cancer Survivors Day banner at the beginning of a local Celebration of Life Walk from Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park on Sunday. King, afflicted with brain cancer for the past five years, said this is the first year he felt able to participate in the walk as a “cancer survivor” because his doctors say they can no longer detect the tumor that was in his brain. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

The annual walk is organized locally by Cancer Connection on National Cancer Survivors Day. This year’s theme was “celebration,” and featured a land acknowledgment, a bagpipe player who led the walkers during a portion of the route and Alaska Native Dancers who performed at the end.

The acknowledgement was given by Fran Houston, cultural Leader of the A’akw Kwáan, who like many other participants recalled people of importance in their lives afflicted with cancer.

“My mother is a cancer survivor,” Houston said. “She had cancer probably 50 years ago. She’s still with us and next month she’ll be 97 years old.”

Fran Houston, left, cultural Leader of the A’akw Kwáan, offers an acknowledgement that a Celebration of Life Walk on Sunday in Juneau is taking place on tribal land. Such land acknowledgements have become common at local official events in recent years. The walk was organized by Cancer Connection, with board member Penny Bullington, center, and president Sheryl Weinberg among the key participants. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Fran Houston, left, cultural Leader of the A’akw Kwáan, offers an acknowledgement that a Celebration of Life Walk on Sunday in Juneau is taking place on tribal land. Such land acknowledgements have become common at local official events in recent years. The walk was organized by Cancer Connection, with board member Penny Bullington, center, and president Sheryl Weinberg among the key participants. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Continuing after a round of spontaneous applause from those gathered, Houston said “it was tough for her, but she’s a tough lady.”

Several songs were performed by the Yées Ḵu.Oo Dancers next to the whale sculpture at Bill Overstreet Park. Sheryl Weinberg, president of Cancer Connection, said adding them and the other new participants this year was simply a matter of “being thoughtful and being inclusive.”

“Everyone is touched by cancer, so this is just bringing together more elements of the community,” she said.

Rai Behnert plays the bagpipes as he leads about 50 people during the final stretch of Cancer Connection’s annual Celebration of Life Walk from Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park on Sunday.

Rai Behnert plays the bagpipes as he leads about 50 people during the final stretch of Cancer Connection’s annual Celebration of Life Walk from Marine Park to Bill Overstreet Park on Sunday.

Weinberg, who was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in 2013, was wearing a heart with the name of Jan Neimeyer, a friend who died of cancer the same year. Most of the other participants wore similar hearts with the names of other people they knew affected by the disease.

“Today is a celebration for those who have lived experience facing the challenges of cancer,” Weinberg told participants before the walk started. She said it was an occasion to remember those who had passed, and “may today also be an inspiration for those who have been recently diagnosed and to their supporters.”

• Contact Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com or (907) 957-2306.

Local residents from a diverse range of ages and cultures gather for a cookout Sunday at Bill Overstreet Park after participating in an annual walk celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

Local residents from a diverse range of ages and cultures gather for a cookout Sunday at Bill Overstreet Park after participating in an annual walk celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)

More in News

The Norwegian Bliss arrives in Juneau on Monday, April 14, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo)
Ships in port for the week of April 27

This information comes from the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska’s 2024 schedule.… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Friday, April 25, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Thursday, April 24, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

State Sen. Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage) reviews an amendment on an education bill with other senators during a break in floor debate Monday at the Alaska State Capitol. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Update: Effort to rush compromise education bill through Legislature hits snag due to ‘drafting error’

Bill returned to Senate, which passed it 19-1, to fix error in amendment; House vote expected by Wednesday

Electronic cigarette products are advertised on April 24, 2025, in the windows of a smoke shop in downtown Juneau. Alaska has no state tax on e-cigarette products, but bills pending in the Legislature seek to change that. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Tobacco use in Alaska continues to decline, though rates still above US averages

Smoking has steadily declined in Alaska over the past decades, evidence that… Continue reading

Juneau Assembly members and other city leaders get an overview of the proposed municipal budget for the coming fiscal year during meeting at City Hall on April 5, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
How city leaders collect and spend money from residents, visitors getting big night of scrutiny

CBJ and school budgets, mill rate and utility fee hikes, seasonal sales tax part of Wednesday’s agenda.

High school junior Jubilee Lewis is all smiles as she and other Mt. Edgecumbe High School Yupik Dancers take the stage at the BJ McGillis Gym to teach a dance to members of high school student governments from across Alaska on Thursday. (James Poulson / Daily Sitka Sentinel)
Student government convention in Sitka petitions for $1,000 BSA hike, inflation adjustments

About 250 high schoolers seek same funding vetoed by governor, as Legislature now eyes lower amount.

A courtroom at the Juneau Courthouse. (Clarise Larson / Juneau Empire file photo)
Juneau man in prison on federal weapons charges gets 13 years on additional state charges

Clyde Pasterski, 44, was convicted by a jury last November for drug and assault offenses.

Protesters rally against the Trump administration’s deportation polices in front of the Alaska State Capitol on Feb. 5, 2025. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
‘Just give us a chance’: One Juneau refugee family puts faith in God, another flees as departure orders arrive

Both families arrived legally; validity of demands by Trump administration to depart being challenged

Most Read