Publisher in The Ocean Star August 5, 2005
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Getting closer to a cure one step at a time
Fund-raising walk set for Sunday

By Brian McGinn

LAVALLETTE — According to the American Cancer Society, every two minutes a woman in the United States is diagnosed with breast cancer. This year alone, 270,000 new cases of breast cancer will be discovered and approximately 40,000 women will lose their lives to the disease. And those numbers are on the rise. In 1960, one in 20 women developed breast cancer, today that ratio stands at one in eight.

Those statistics are numbers Robert Agliata, and Josephine Sessa, owners of the Music Man Singing Ice Cream Shop here, and their family know all too well. After his mother survived her battle with breast cancer, Mr. Agliata felt the need to help other families in the same situation. The result of that desire to help was the formation of the Tone Foundation.

In an effort to raise both awareness and money for breast cancer research, The Tone Foundation, along with the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program, will sponsor the second annual Lavallette Breast Cancer Walk, Sunday morning at 9 a.m.

The Tone Foundation and the Lavallette Breast Cancer Walk began last year when Mr. Agliata and his wife, Josephine Sessa, felt the need to help raise awareness about the disease.

“My mother is a 10-year [breast cancer] survivor, so she has a lot to do with our family getting involved,” said Mr. Agliata. “Her name is Antoinette, that is where we got the name The Tone Foundation, to honor her.”

Mr. Agliata said the foundation decided last March to organize the first breast cancer walk.

“It started as a walk that was just meant to raise awareness,” he said. “But it turned into so much more than that.”

Besides the 153 participants at last year’s walk, which raised $12,000, the event became a place for cancer survivors and their families to share their stories with other survivors, Mr. Agliata said.

“You don’t think when you start something like this that it is going to affect so many people in such a personal way, but it does,” Mr. Agliata said. “I have been overwhelmed by the amount of letters I have received from other families who know exactly what we are going through.”

Mr. Agliata said he was overcome with emotion when he learned a number of families decided to vacation in Lavallette this year just so they could participate in the breast cancer walk.

“I just can’t believe it has had this kind of effect on people,” he said. “But the entire process has been rewarding for us [Mr. Agliata’s family]. We have spent our own money to make this happen but we have gotten so much back on an emotional level that it makes up for it.”

The Lavallette Breast Cancer walk has become a family affair for the Agliatas. Mr. Agliata’s brothers, Vince and Tom, help out, as well as his mother-in-law Irene and father-in-law Mario Sessa.

“It has been wonderful to participate in an event like this with the entire family,” Mr. Agliata said. “The town has also lent its support, which has been great. We would to see more participation from the town in the future.”

Increased participation would bring The Tone Foundation closer to its ultimate goal of a larger and larger walk each year.

“Of course we want to grow each year and I think we are in the right place to do that,” Mr. Agliata said. “I feel this was the right way to go for Lavallette. The town sees the value in it.”

While this year’s walk will be just the second annual event, Mr. Agliata is confident the breast cancer walk will continue each year long into the future.

The walk will be held each year on the the first Sunday in August, Mr. Agliata said.

Walkers in the event can pre-register for the event at the Music Man Singing Ice Cream Shop at 1305 Grand Central Ave., Lavallette or on race day at the same location. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the walk beginning at 9 a.m. The cost to participate in the event is $20 per person, with each walker receiving a free T-shirt courtesy of Merrill Lynch and a free water bottle courtesy of Diane Turton, Realtors.

Those who cannot participate in the walk but are interested in donating money or time to the organization are welcome as well.

One way customers of the Music Man can help out is by making donations to The Tone Foundation while visiting the ice cream shop. Those customers who donate receive a postcard with their name on it that is placed on the wall at the store.

“It is great,” Mr. Agliata said. “The walls are just covered with postcards.”

For more information, interested volunteers or donors can stop by the Music Man Singing Ice Cream Shop or call 732-854-2779.

“There is an excitement surrounding the event this year that I didn’t see last year,” Mr. Agliata said.