By Steve Shay

Talk about girl power, "Team Tracy" did it again, with 16 ladies, including team-leader, West Seattle's Tracy Dart, a breast cancer survivor, raising $40,000 for breast cancer research during the Susan G. Koman 3-Day for the Cure. This was Dart's fifth year participating. The 60-mile walk went Friday to Sunday, Sept. 16-18, and routed an estimated 2,000 walkers, women and men, through Seattle and the East Side. The walk concluded at Seattle Center as volunteers, family members and friends greeted walkers with applause and flowers as they marched into Memorial Stadium. (This walk often gets confused with a separate event, the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure, a 5K event.)

Dart wanted to acknowledge the other 15 Team Tracy members: Jennifer Witsoe, Trudy Muller, Desiree Holweger, Loreen Parkerson, Dena Johnson, Eleni French, Jennifer Rice and Stephanie Moores, all of West Seattle, and Samantha Prokopy, Marti Thomas, Jody Morrow, Lori McGovern, Emily McDonald, Sarah Swanson and Dawn Cox. Dart is the only team member with breast cancer, she said.

Dart, an Alki resident who is concluding another round of chemo therapy, has become a local icon and reluctant celebrity for the cause as she supports breast cancer fundraising and offers moral support for other survivors and their families and friends, while dealing with her own struggle. She had plans to take a week off, then dive right back into fundraising for 2012's walk. "Then people can start donating for next year," she said. Each participant must raise $2,300 to walk.

"As soon as a teammate reaches $2,300 I encourage them to donate to other teammates who didn't quite meet the $2,300," Dart said. "It was stressful leading up to the very last minute.

"With the economy the way it is, we got a lot more people who donated in the $10-$50 range, not so much the $100 $500-type donations," she acknowledged. "It has become a lot more of a grass roots fundraising. You sell bracelets for five dollars or T-shirts for twenty. People want to donate, but everybody is in a different financial situation and for many, giving you 30 dollars comes out of their grocery and gas money."

The West Seattle Herald did a story Aug. 1 on Team Tracy member Desiree Holweger, who many recognize as a barista at the Tully's on Alki. She raised money with her bracelets and baked goods in front of her home near Tully's.

"People ask me all the time, 'Is this money for you and your medical bills?'", said Dart. "No. It is for the cause. I personally don't have that much to donate, but I know a lot of people. I am always making sure I tell everybody I know about donating for the cause.

"This was a difficult year for me to be out there because I am in the middle of chemo and my doctors were pretty, well, they knew I wanted to be out there and made sure I didn't over do it," Dart said. "I can walk a mile and I am done for a bit. They have sweep crew who will take you to the next pit stop. They'd drive by and were like, 'Tracy, are you OK?' Knowing I wasn't going to be stuck out on the route was a comfort. I probably walked 6 miles a day. That's about all I could do. Most of the team walked all 60.

"The Seattle Police Department had nearly 50 who rode bicycles, helped with security and had support crew," Dart said. "All volunteered. They were just awesome. I can't say enough about the Seattle Police Department and what they did last weekend. They were still with us even though we were walking in Redmond. They remembered you along the route. Some had pink tires. Some of the guys were wearing pink knee high socks. They made an effort.

"Walking into Seattle Center you turn a corner at one point and the whole place is lined with family, friends, and other walkers," Dart recalled. "Until you see it and you are there you may not understand how emotional it's going to be. Friends came down and brought us flowers. That's kind of the cherry on top, walking in together. A lot of tears were shed. It's hard not to feel touched by that."

Team member Trudy Muller, who owns and operates Envy on Alki skin boutique, shared a tent with Dart both nights. She recalled a mishap on Sunday night's campout at Marymoor Park.

"Marymoor forgot to turn the sprinklers off and so at 4:15 a.m. we had to run across the park with our tents, and I needed to put some clothes on," Muller chuckled. "There were like 2,000 people running with their tents."

Added Dart, "It was mass chaos. 'Mud puddle for the cure'."

"This was my second year," said Muller, who was still limping the Tuesday. "I raised $3,200 but gave some to other team members who weren't able to raise the $2,300. I died my hair pink and wore a few feathers in it just to create more hype. It helped me fundraise at work and around the neighborhood."

"We're very appreciative of the opportunity to support a really, really good cause," said Bryan DeAnda, salesman, Carter Volkswagen and Subaru in Ballard, whose convertible Beetle was used as a "walker/stalker" car, as Dart described it. She said the driver played loud music, cheered on the participants, and drove to the store for emergency supplies.

"We used a red Volkswagen convertible three years ago, our first year helping out, and Team Tracy is great to work with," DeAnda said. Carter, a Ballard ma & pa since 1960, spends one half million dollars a year on community-related charities.

"I've been a consistent source of support for Tracy since I have known her, about three years," said Mike Barbre. "She's such an inspirational figure to so many people. It's amazing how many people she has reached in such a short period of time, and touched so many people known and unknown. My aunt Lois had to go through treatment and it was a trying time for her, but she caught it early and made it through. She's a better person for it. I wouldn't call it a gift, but it made her really treasure life a lot more.

"Whether she likes to admit it or not 'Team Tracy' has become a brand," said Barbre of Dart and her modesty. "Her goal isn't attention. It's letting people in on this insidious disease and how to kill it and destroy it in any way possible and that's what she does with success every single year. She reminds people of what it is going to take to beat this thing and is living proof that grace and crazy tough work can go together in a great package."