Let's Nap for the Cure!

Five years ago, I wrote  a column suggesting that it wasn't fair to hold the annual "Race for the Cure" breast-cancer fundraiser on Mother's Day.

Any other day of the year, I noted, would be better than Mother's Day, since many moms who might otherwise be inclined to race might actually prefer to spend Mother's Day on the sofa, enjoying a well-deserved rest from a year's worth of responsibilities.

So instead of racing for the cure that day, I proposed, why not Nap for a Cure instead?

And so I did. I raised about $160 for the Susan G. Komen Foundation on Mother's Day, which was $160 more than I would've raised by not racing for a cure that day. It was a fabulous, and lucrative, way to spend a lazy Sunday at home, snoring on the living-room couch while something heartwarming and gooey blared on Lifetime.

Nonetheless, I got some blowback about the column. A few readers called me '"selfish" for not breaking a bead of sweat for the cure, which I thought was silly. When it comes to funding breast-cancer research, money is money, right? What's selfish about that?

Others, though, wanted to let me know that they ran on Mother's Day because it was such a public way to show solidarity with family and friends affected by this brutal cancer. Or to honor their own moms, who'd succumbed to it and would never relish another Mother's Day again. Or to show the world that they, breast-cancer warriors themselves, were not going to take their disease lying down.

As one woman told me, "This disease has knocked me flat too many times. I'm going to be racing even if I fall over."

This Sunday, as another "Race for the Cure" unfolds on Mother's Day, I will salute all breast-cancer warriors and survivors, moms and non-moms alike, and those who love them. 

And I will do so from 5pm to 7pm, on my sofa, where I will raise money by resting for two hours. If you'd like to sponsor me, make a check or money order payable (in any amount you care to give) to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and send it to me here at the Daily News. I'll forward your donation on to those good folks.

And if you think I'm the only nut who thinks that snoring for the cure is an idea whose time has come, click here to read New York Times columnist Clyde Haberman's April 30th article about how Komen is warming to the idea of supporters raising money while they sleep.

So godspeed, walkers. And to my fellow snoozers - sweet dreams!

Send checks to:

Ronnie Polaneczky

Philadelphia Daily News

400 N. Broad St.

Philadelphia, PA 19130