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JOINING HANDS IN MIDAIR: Rochester Hills dentist to skydive as part of the breast cancer fund-raiser Jump for the Cause
September 26, 2005
BY CECILIA OLECK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Dr. Carolyn Way Johnson has already heard all the jokes about her hot pink skydiving suit.
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Jump for the Cause
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What: Jump for the Cause, a skydiving event held every couple of years to raise money for breast cancer research.
When: This week.
Who: 165 women from around the world, including Rochester Hills dentist Carolyn Way Johnson.
Where: Perris, Calif., southeast of Los Angeles.
Event facts
•Mallory Tarcher, daughter of puppeteer Shari Lewis, organized the first Jump for the Cause event in 1999, in honor of her mother who died of cancer in 1998.
•Each time the event has been held (1999, 2002), the skydivers have broken the world record for number of women to jump in formation.
•The current world record is 131.
•This year's participants come from 24 states and 15 countries.
•They jump from eight planes flying at 17,000 feet.
•The skydivers must hold their formation for five seconds — on film — for it to count as a record.
•An average jump, from leap to landing, takes three to five minutes. A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer about every three minutes.
Source: www.jumpforthecause .com
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"I wore it ... and people were like, 'Hey, Pepto-Bismol girl!' and 'Does that come with a battery pack?'," the 51-year-old dentist said as she held out the pink creation in her Birmingham office.
Despite her aversion to the color, Johnson -- who wears green mascara just for fun and isn't afraid to poke fun at herself or others -- will don it in favor of a higher cause.
A cause that includes jumping out of a soaring airplane. Hurtling toward the ground. Forming a pinwheel-like pattern with 164 other women.
All to raise money for breast cancer research.
Johnson and the other skydivers -- expert jumpers from around the world -- are to meet in Perris, Calif., this week to take part in Jump for the Cause, a fund-raising effort that seeks to break its own world record for the most women to skydive in formation.
Johnson's pink suit will help her figure out where she belongs in the pinwheel.
If the jump sounds dangerous -- parachute lines can get tangled and bumping the wrong way into someone can mean trouble -- Johnson said the real danger is not doing it.
"We're very close, very close to some important breakthroughs," said Johnson, who lives in Rochester Hills. "Raising the money was important."
Johnson, who tallies her jumps somewhere around 1,400, picked up the sport eight years ago from her husband, Bob Johnson, an instructor. He'll be in California this week as ground support for his wife and the other women jumping.
She's wanted to be a part of Jump for the Cause since 1999 when a friend who had qualified to participate died in a Marine City plane crash before the event.
But Johnson didn't know it would become even more personal.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer on Feb. 1, after signing up to be part of this year's Jump for the Cause.
"When I first heard of what she was doing, I said 'Is she nuts?'," said Helen Pappas, one of Johnson's dental patients. "But then I thought, 'I'm not surprised, she's a very caring, loving and compassionate person.' "
Pappas, 75, is a two-time breast cancer survivor. It was she who helped answer questions and calm fears when Johnson was diagnosed with the disease.
Through the months of chemotherapy and radiation that followed, Johnson continued to train for Jump for the Cause, traveling to California in May to try out for the team.
On the weeks she wasn't undergoing radiation treatment, Johnson said she would push herself to bike, walk, lift weights and, if the weather permitted, skydive.
"It never crossed my mind that I was going to die," said Johnson, who lost her aunt to the disease in 1991 and her mother to pancreatic cancer in 1994. "That just wasn't an option."
Looking forward to the Jump for the Cause event -- and with it the chance to meet so many other women passionate about skydiving -- gave Johnson the drive she needed to train, despite the effects of the treatment.
She now considers herself cured.
"I had a goal that was short-term and I had to be in shape to do it," she said. "I just think that when you get these women together, there's this incredible energy."
Jump for the Cause participants raise at least $2,500 apiece, with money after expenses going to support breast cancer research at City of Hope, a research and treatment center based in Duarte, Calif.
Before leaving for California on Saturday, Johnson was listed on the event's Web site, www.jumpforthecause.com, as one of the top fund-raisers for the event, with $7,338 to her credit.
To raise the money, she sold pink Jump for the Cause bracelets, held poker parties and asked patients to donate.
They didn't need any incentives to be generous.
"Wouldn't you contribute if the woman has her hands in your mouth all the time?" said Jerosa Peter, 63, of Farmington Hills, one of Johnson's patients. "I think it's a great cause."
Contact CECILIA OLECK at 248-351-3692 or oleck@freepress.com.
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