Ten years ago, Nina Barough, with no previous experience in fundraising, power walking or marathons, woke up one morning with what seemed to her a brilliant idea – to power walk the New York marathon in a decorated bra to raise money for breast cancer. Barough was simply looking for a way to make breast cancer fundraising fun. The first year, thirteen women joined her in the New York marathon.

At the time of her brilliant idea, Barough did not suspect she had breast cancer. One year after the first walk, Barough was diagnosed with breast cancer. While she was undergoing surgery and cancer treatments, those around her decided to power walk the London Marathon as a way to show their support for her. The London Marathon walk was a huge success, raising over £25,000. After this Walk the Walk, the decorated and designed bras were auctioned.

In the spring of 1998 a Walk the Walk team entered the London Marathon, but places were limited, and only 25 people were able to register. Another 25 were denied entrance into the marathon. Nina decided to create a marathon for those left out. She came up with a marathon that started at midnight and ended at seven in the morning the day of the official London Marathon. The Moonwalk has become a wildly popular and major annual event.

Since its humble beginnings, Walk the Walk has become a worldwide annual event and has raised excess of £2.5million for breast cancer research and cancer care programs.

Brain tumor leads woman to activism, a feature published by The Argus Leader, about Julia Khvasechko, a young woman brain cancer survivor who runs marathons for cancer charity, is a heartwarming story to begin the week.

Marathon runners suffer from dehydration and the physical weakness at about mile 20 of the 26 mile run, but Khvasechko says that is nothing compared to the experience of cancer diagnosis.

"When you hit a wall - for me that is around mile 19 - it's easy to give up, but one cannot give up, one has to keep going," she said. "That is what I learned from overcoming a chronic condition. The initial reaction to the diagnosis was that my life was over. I was so very young - I lost my innocence, my youth and my carefree lifestyle. And it was not an easy road after the diagnosis, either."

After an incorrect diagnosis of epilepsy in 1994, Khvasechko was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 1998, at the age of 24. After seven years, she is cancer-free. Khvasechko, and her running partner, Chris Pierson, just finished the Racing Ahead marathon to raise money for the National Brain Tumor Foundation. Both met online and plan to be married later this year. Some stories have a happy ending, and this is definitely one of them.