Six Sisters Train for Avon's NYC Walk for Breast Cancer

If you see five women walking around (and around) Lake Parsippany, you may have run into the Herzog sisters: Kathleen, Nancy, Mary, Chrissy and Maggie. Together, along with their Florida-based sister Erin, they are training for the 39-mile New York City Avon Walk For Breast Cancer, which takes place Oct. 15 and 16.

Patch interviewed eldest sister Kathleen to hear more about the women's training and, more importantly, about their motivation to take on such a big challenge.

Patch: Can you tell me more about your family?

Kathleen: Sure. There are eight siblings. We all grew up on Allentown Road in Lake Parsippany, six girls and two boys.  Our brothers, Robbie and Stephen, are supporting us by assisting with fund raising.

There’s me, Kathleen Herzog Berardo.  I’m 41 years old, a mother of five children; I live in Lake Parsippany.  I’m a paraprofessional in the Parsippany school district.

My five sisters are:

Nancy Herzog Mulligan, of Lake Parsippany, age 40, mother of five

Erin Herzog Bisceglia, of Naples, Fla., age 33, managing director of the Club Manager’s Association

Mary Herzog Donahue, of Butler, age 28, who works in radiography at St. Barnabas Hospital

Chrissy Herzog of Lake Parsippany, age 27, an accountant

Maggie Herzog, of Lake Parsippany, age 23, a Centenary College graduate student

Patch:  What prompted you to do the walk?

Herzog: We are the statistic.  They say one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.  We are six sisters and with our brothers’ two wives (who are not walking, due to just having babies), there are eight of us. One in eight.  It’s scary.

My husband’s sister is a survivor.  

And, unfortunately, Erin’s sister-in-law passed away from breast cancer. Her husband was very close to his sister, who was a mother figure to him. Not coincidentally, Erin is our cheerleader. She is the most enthusiastic member of our team.

Patch: What is your training regime?

Herzog: I’ve clocked that from my house, around the lake and back is three miles.  To get to 39 miles, we need to walk the loop 13 times.  We generally walk in the morning or the evening, since it’s been hot.  Those of us who can, try to get together as often as possible to walk as a group.

Erin goes to a gym to avoid the Florida heat.  Next weekend, the three youngest are going to Florida and will train with her there.

Patch: What is the worst weather you’ve walked in so far?

Herzog: The heat!  We’ll walk in the rain, but not if there’s a storm.

Patch: What’s the toughest part of training overall?

Herzog: For me, it’s the finding the time to walk.  I work part-time and have five active kids, so it's hard to find the time.

Patch: What’s your goal and how close are you to meeting it?

Herzog:  Our goal is $10,600 as a team and we are 25 percent of the way there.

Patch: Since you are a local team, what are some of the ways our Parsippany community can support you?

Herzog:  You can “Like” our team on Facebook.  We would also appreciate any donations to our team through our group’s Avon Walk page.