HOUSTON – Susan G. Komen opened their doors in Houston 25 years ago Tuesday. In the short amount of time, they're responsible for helping Houstonians fight their way through cancer, giving millions of dollars to research, and they're the reason that every October we're all seeing pink.
You don't have to look far to see the delicate color that symbolizes one of the toughest battles any human faces.
"I immediately thought that I was going to die, because I had no knowledge, but as soon as you start meeting people that have survived it, and through Komen I met people my age and that was important to me, because at 33 you want somebody who can really, truly understand what you're going through," Molly Bobrow said.
Bobrow celebrates this breast cancer awareness month as a survivor. It's been a decade since her second round of cancer and she said Komen saved her life.
"My first race was in 1998 and you see all the breast cancer survivors out there, because we're all going to be in pink, and so there's -- immediately you're overwhelmed with feelings of hope," she said. "There's survivors out there. I can get through this, and Komen brought that to me."
Houston's Susan G. Komen chapter said 75 percent of every dollar they make is going to save you, your mothers, daughters, friends and family at risk of breast cancer.
"We're here to change the conversation so we have more money to put into research, so we get more clinical trials for those women and they can get greater outcomes," Executive Director Adriana Higgins said.
It took 25 years for the organization to make awareness part of the conversation. Now they have a strong hand in research and give a warm embrace to patients, but they'd be nothing without the supporters.
"It does take a lot, but we're good stewards of those funds and we put those funds toward good efforts for great outcomes," Higgins said.
While this is a milestone, the road ahead looks long, because there's people who don't know yet that they're tomorrow's survivors and they need tomorrow's treatments to be better than today's.
"Until we find that cure, our job is not done," Bobrow said.
Tuesday night, Komen celebrates their kickoff party at the Tasting Room at 818 Town and Country Boulevard.
Click here for details on the party.
Click here to enroll in this year's Race for the Cure.