Thousands of big-hearted Brooklynites came to Prospect Park on Saturday to walk with survivors of ovarian cancer and raise awareness and funds for those still struggling with the brutal disease — but only one attendee came to kneel.
Participant Eileen Lopez came to the annual Teal Walk in honor of her mother, who has battled ovarian cancer for the last five years, and with so many other loved ones at the event, she also surprised her longtime girlfriend with a diamond ring.
“I wanted to do it with my friends there and make it a little bit special for her,” said Eileen Lopez, who proposed to her now-fiancee Carmen Rios at the walk. “It was just a special day, and I know a lot of people who were going to be there and it meant a lot to her.”
Windsor Terrace ovarian cancer group Teal
Lopez’s mom Milagros wasn’t well enough to attend the event herself, but the pictures of her daughter on one knee came as real tear jerker, she said.
“She loved it, she cried when I proposed, and she wanted to be there, so we went for her,” Lopez said.
The walk — organized annually by Windsor Terrace group Teal — is the largest event of its kind in New York City that’s specific to the deadly woman’s disease, which is expected to claim more than 14,000 women in the United States in 2016 alone, according to the American Cancer Society.
Teal-garbed participants at this year’s event raised more than $200,000, but it was the survivors in attendance who really gave Lopez’s mom hope that the disease can be beat and that a little courage goes a long way, she said.
“There’s other people fighting it who are strong, and she needed to see that,” said Lopez.
