Boobie-Que Fundraiser a Success

Inspirational  stories of those who've overcome breast cancer and those who lost their battles with the condition were told Saturday during the annual Boobie-Que fundraiser at Signal Hill Park.

 The fundraiser is hosted by Shirl’s Girls, a group of Manassas Park and Manassas-area women who raise money each year to participate in the Susan G. Komen Walk for the Cure in Washington D.C. in September.

 The group is named for Shirley Beers, a New Jersey woman who overcame breast cancer not one, not two—but three times.

 Beers’ daughter, Bobbi, lives in Manassas Park and founded the group.

 Shirley Beers along with her husband, Bob, and several of their children and grandchildren all attended the Boobie-Que Saturday.

 Beers said she appreciates her daughter, Bobbi, the eldest female of five children and all the Shirl’s Girls.

 “The event is overwhelming,” Shirley Beers said. “Anything that brings attention to breast cancer awareness is good."

 Shirley Beers said she particularly feels for young women who are fighting breast cancer because sometimes the success rate isn’t as high as hers, she said.

 Shirley Beers was diagnosed with cancer in both breasts in 1991.

 “You’re scared,” she said. “Cancer is a word that scares most people. You are always thinking of what could happen.  I made up my mind that I was going to go through this. I was going to go through the radiation.”

 There wasn’t as much cancer awareness literature in 1991 as there is now, but there was some, she said.

She read lots of material to educate herself on the cancer treatment process.

 In June of 2001, she was diagnosed again with cancer in her left breast.

She underwent chemotherapy to shrink the tumor, which was very deep and large, Shirley Beers said.

 After chemo she underwent a mastectomy.

 Three years later, doctors found more cancer cells in her right breast. 

 Throughout all her treatments her husband was there to help her, she said.

 “He was very good, he was very supportive. If he couldn’t be there, he would even get men from work, that I didn’t know to come in and sit with me  for my radiation—he just didn’t want me to be alone,” Shirley Beers said, smiling.

 Bob Beers had his own bout with the diease as he was diagnosed with cancer of the kidneys and had to have part of that organ removed.  

 One of the Beers sons also was diagnosed with kidney cancer and now only has half of a kidney on each side, Shirley Beers said.

 Bobbi Beers was diagnosed with thyroid cancer when she was 21 and had to have the entire gland removed.

 Shirley Beers, grandmother of 17 and great-grandmother of eight now leads a very full life and tries not to let thoughts of the cancer returning weigh her down.

 “It’s always in the back of your mind, but you can’t dwell on it,” she said.

 Though Beers’ story is one of triumph, there were those of great sadness told Saturday at the event.

 Montgomery County, Maryland firefighter, Marshall Moneymaker spoke Saturday and through tears, talked about his three sisters who all died of breast cancer within two years of one another.

 Two died in 2010, he said.

 While he was still reeling from his sisters’ deaths, he met Shirl’s Girls.

 Moneymaker said he then began wearing pink in memory of his sisters.

 Many food vendors showed their support for Shirl’s Girls Saturday.

 Nathan’s Diary Bar employees donated their time so that all of the proceeds from the sale of items from the diary truck could go to breast cancer awareness.

 Manassas baker, Aymee VanDyke owner of Wacky Cookies, donated some 300 pink cupcakes for the Boobie-Que.

 Clarkes of Manassas Park donated cole slaw and baked beans, while local Manassas resident and  Kenny Bland prepared two large pigs for the event.

Shirl Girl Mary Ellen Shaw, also known as "Super Boob,"  got in on the culinary act and made macaroni and cheese for the event.

Superboob, adorned in pink boxing gloves, a sparkling cape, pink wing, rose tinted glasses and—oh yes—a large bra worn on the outside of her clothes—attends the Boobie-Que and the race each year as a cancer-butt kicking superhero who cheers the Shirl's Girls team on.