Charlotte's Susan G. Komen MORE THAN PINK Walk is relocating to American Legion Memorial Stadium on Saturday, October 10, bringing survivors, families, and corporate sponsors together in a state that leads the nation in breast cancer incidence. The event, organized by the Susan G. Komen Foundation, is described as a celebration of the strength and resilience of survivors and people living with metastatic breast cancer.
Amanda Shackleford, who is living with breast cancer, and Lauren Jones, the event's development director, joined Queen City News Now to discuss the walk and its growth over the years, according to Queen City News. Their appearance comes as the walk moves from Symphony Park at SouthPark Mall — where the 2025 event aimed to raise $450,000 for local and national breast cancer initiatives — to the 10,500-seat stadium in Elizabeth, according to Susan G. Komen.
The 2026 walk carries a roster of corporate backers, with Nucor serving as Pillar Sponsor, Legion Brewing and The Team Miller Foundation as Gold Sponsors, and Bank of America as the national presenting sponsor, per the same organization. That sponsorship money helps fund research and patient support services across the region, Komen notes.
Why North Carolina's Numbers Matter
The move to a bigger venue comes as North Carolina grapples with troubling breast cancer statistics. An American Cancer Society report published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians ranked North Carolina highest in the nation for female breast cancer incidence between 2017 and 2021, with an average rate of 145.4 cases per 100,000 women, compared with a national average of 131.8 per 100,000, according to Becker's Hospital Review.
The American Cancer Society projected that North Carolina would see 11,320 new female breast cancer diagnoses and 1,450 breast cancer deaths in 2025, a volume that touches thousands of local families each year. Racial disparities compound the burden: Black women in North Carolina experience an age-adjusted breast cancer mortality rate of 29.6 per 100,000, well above the national average of 19.4 per 100,000 Black women, according to data cited by CDC WONDER. The disparity is linked to higher rates of aggressive triple-negative breast cancer and delayed diagnoses, per that same data.
Where the Walk's Dollars Go
Money raised through Charlotte's walk and similar events feeds directly into North Carolina research and screening programs. In June, Susan G. Komen awarded a $200,000 Leadership Grant to Dr. Melissa Troester at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to study how spatial relationships between immune cells and cancer cells affect tumor progression, part of a cumulative $1 million Komen investment in her lab, according to UNC Health.
Komen's North Carolina affiliates have awarded more than $3.4 million in grants since 1999 to Novant Health screening programs, funding mammograms, diagnostic procedures, and patient support for uninsured residents, helping eliminate cost and transportation barriers to early detection, according to the Novant Health Foundation. Nationally, Komen projects 321,910 new invasive breast cancer cases, 60,730 non-invasive ductal carcinoma in situ cases, and 42,140 breast cancer deaths among U.S. women in 2026 — figures that underscore why early detection matters, since localized diagnosis carries a five-year relative survival rate above 99%.
Komen has also sharpened its financial focus on the disease's most advanced stage. The organization allocated 72% of its $15.4 million national research grant portfolio in June 2026 specifically to metastatic breast cancer research across 35 grant awards, a detail that speaks directly to walk participants living with metastatic disease.
A Historic Stadium Gets a New Role
American Legion Memorial Stadium itself carries deep local history. The venue was dedicated in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and originally built with WPA funds to honor military veterans. It later underwent a $40.5 million county redevelopment completed in 2021 that modernized its 10,500-seat outdoor capacity, giving Charlotte's largest municipal venue the infrastructure to host a growing fundraising crowd.
Charlotte's walk joins a string of 2026 MORE THAN PINK events Hoodline has covered this fall, including Milwaukee's walk returning in late September and New York's Race for the Cure set for later this month. Together, the events reflect Komen's national push to pair local fundraising with targeted research investment in states facing the steepest breast cancer burdens.
