Alexandria — It was during a routine mammogram in 1994 that then-city manager Vola Lawson discovered she had breast cancer. Shortly thereafter, her mother and two sisters were diagnosed with the disease.

“This is something I am passionate about,” said Lawson prior to this year's walk. “It's because of a mammogram that I am alive and one of my sisters is not so I am committed to helping every woman in the city get the screening they need regardless of their economic situation.”

Still recovering from a double mastectomy in 1995, Lawson founded the city's annual Walk to Fight Breast Cancer, which celebrated its 17th anniversary Oct. 20 and raised more than $90,000 to fund mammograms and other diagnostic screenings for Alexandria women who are not adequately insured to obtain medical care.

More than 900 walkers and runners took to the starting line on Eisenhower Avenue to raise money for the Walk to Fight Breast Cancer Fund, which has provided mammograms to more than 7,000 women since its inception. Major donors included Jack Taylor's Alexandria Toyota/Scion, who pledged $50 for every car sold during the month of Octobers and $15 for every Facebook “Like,” and the Alexandria Fire Department.

“We will keep selling the T-shirts,” said Capt. Rodney Masser of the fundraising effort that raised more than $7,000. “They will be available at Station 201 on Prince Street until they're gone.”

The event is jointly sponsored by the City of Alexandria and the Inova Alexandria Hospital Foundation.

“My life was saved by a mammogram,” Lawson said. “We need to give every woman in this city that same chance.”

For information or to make a donation, contact Sarah Watson at 703-746-3123 or sarah.watson@alexandriava.gov or visit www.alexcancerwalk.com.