Anne Walker wanted to capitalize on the opportunity.
Three years ago, her Stanford women’s golf team had perhaps the most people paying attention to it as any women’s squad ever in college golf. With stars like Rose Zhang, Rachel Heck and others, the Cardinal were a focal point of the sport, and thousands of people were following their every movement.
Walker wanted to make sure the team wasn’t only putting a good product on the course and excelling at tournaments, but also making a difference where it truly mattered.
Enter the Play For Her campaign. The event was tied to the Stanford Intercollegiate, one of the longest-running tournaments in college golf. The goal? To support breast cancer research and helping try to eradicate the disease.
“That first year, you know, the whole goal is just to bring awareness to these young women that it’s not an old person’s disease, that it’s an every woman disease,” Walker said. “No matter how old you are. And the earlier intervention, the better the outcomes.”
Last year, Walker’s college coach and idol, Nancy McDaniel, was back in the hospital fighting cancer for the second time. That’s when Walker wanted to do more. Play For Her became a fundraiser, with all proceeds going to McDaniel’s oncologist, Dr. Hope Rugo, and her research at the University of California San Francisco Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
They raised $290,000 for breast cancer research.
“It’s not so much on the therapies to prevent recurrence or battle it or imperative, but if we really want to move the needle, it’s on the research on the front end about prevention,” Walker said. “And less money gets given to that research just for a variety of reasons, and one of the best ways you can do that is to give directly to doctors.”
And this year, Stanford is again working to raise the bar for breast cancer research.
Last week, the Cardinal shared medalist honors with USC at the Stanford Intercollegiate, which is hosted by Dr. Condoleezza Rice, who lost her mother, Angelena, to breast cancer in 1985. This year, Play For Her honored Arizona State women’s coach Missy Farr-Kaye.
Farr-Kaye’s sister, Heather, died of breast cancer at age 28, and Missy was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 30 and again at age 40. In November of 2020, at age 53, she was diagnosed with colon cancer. Her father battled colon cancer, too.
TaylorMade made a custom pink Play For Her bag that every player at the Stanford Intercollegiate signed for Farr-Kaye.
This year, the proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit Dr. Allison Kurian and the Stanford Breast Cancer Center. Her research in cancer genetics aims to identify women, like Heather Farr, more efficiently and accurately, at high risk of disease.
“That’s where her area focuses, in the hope that we can better identify genes, just through blood work that will tell us the young people or young women who are susceptible to this disease, and then, in turn, hopefully qualify them for better screening at a much earlier age, better and more screening,” Walker said.
The fundraiser remains open until Friday, having raised nearly $160,000 for breast cancer research.
What started as a college golf team and Walker wanting to capitalize on the attention their team was getting has in turn raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for breast cancer research. When the fundraiser closes Friday, Walker will go get the funds in the form of a check and turn them over to Dr. Kurian by Monday.
“She’s excited to list the Play For Her in her future papers that will have the research,” Walker said. “That’s really cool to think that our donation and all these women playing in the tournament and all the people affiliated will actually be listed as contributors to research as we move forward.”
If you’d like to donate to Play For Her, you can do so at this link.