TRAVERSE CITY — Dueling drumlines gathered in the rain Thursday to “beat” back breast cancer during the fourth annual Let’s Beat Breast Cancer rally.
The rally at the Ottaway Building, formerly Northwestern Michigan College’s Boardman Campus, marked the start of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
“We wanted to start on Day One, Oct. 1, because starting today, you can help reduce your risk,” said Darylin Berryman of Peshawbestown, rally organizer and Native Food for Life educator.
According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 9,900 women in Michigan will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2026, and 1,320 women are expected to die from the disease. Nationwide, approximately one in eight women will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer during her lifetime.
The event highlighted four preventative measures that can be taken every day: eating a plant-based diet, exercising, limiting alcohol and maintaining a healthy weight.
“No single step can guarantee prevention, but these habits have shown to help lower risk while also supporting your overall health,” Berryman said.
Traverse City Central High School and Traverse City West Senior High School drum corps students performed during the rally and have participated in previous years. Thomas Vieira, band director at Central High, and Chad Mielens, West Senior High band director, both said the students enjoy participating in these types of events.
“It’s just a great opportunity for us to be out in the community and support one of the great causes in our community,” Vieira said.
This is the third year Porter Lawens, West Senior High drum captain, has participated in the event and he said that, just by being part of it, students are making a statement.
“I think it’s really cool that just by coming out here and playing, we’re already raising awareness,” he said. “And I also think it’s really cool we’re able to collaborate with Central (High School) as well.
“It kind of shows we’re not just rivals, we’re all just one big group.”
The event, supported and funded by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a non-profit research and advocacy organization, included food, educational materials, and partner information.
The educational focus of Thursday’s event was on awareness and everyday actions. People don’t need to change overnight, making small changes – like adding more fruit, vegetables, beans and lentils to their diet – can be helpful, Berryman said.
“There is tremendous power in the choices we make every day,” she said.
That was a life-changing lesson she learned after being diagnosed with gestational diabetes while pregnant and her doctor told her she could control it with diet and exercise.
This changed her perspective. As a Native American woman, Berryman said she just assumed she would develop diabetes someday, but she wanted to have a homebirth, something not possible with gestational diabetes, and said, “I did not want to resign myself to that fate.”
Berryman was able to get her gestational diabetes in remission and have the birth she wanted. This showed her the power of a nutritious, plant-based diet.
“And I thought that must have been meant to happen to me. Like the creator gave me that challenge so I could bring it out here to the tribe,” she said.
Through research, she learned that Native Americans are more likely to suffer from Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and high cholesterol rates. She became a Native Food for Life instructor to teach others how to prevent, treat and even reverse health problems with ancestral plant-based food.
“We can prevent this,” she said. “My child, my aunt, we can all have a say in this. We don’t have to resign ourselves to what mother and grandmother died of.”