Page 9 - Making Strides Against Breats Cancer

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Poor Girls Open reels in
more than $1 million
Beating breast cancer at Bahia Marina.
The “Roar Against Cancer” team at the Poor Girls Open celebrated breast cancer survivor and Fish Tales bartender Chrisy Rothfuss (second from the right).
If you listen to the sound of the Assa- woman Bay from Bahia Marina in Ocean City, you can hear the waves roar, but this past August, you could also hear a substantial “Roar Against Cancer” coming from one of the fishing teams at the Poor Girls Open to benefit Making Strides Against Breast Cancer of Ocean City.
The Harman family, owners of Bahia Marina, have held this ladies-only billfish release tournament every summer for 25 years, reaching an incredible $1 million in total fundraising for the American Cancer Society since the tournament’s founding. The funds support breast cancer research and free programs that help breast cancer patients on the Eastern Shore. For the Har- mans, this victory is both a family and a community affair that hits close to home.
“Our family is proud to make a differ-
ence. Everyone is touched by cancer. This year’s goal was the March to $1 Million, and we did it!” says Shawn Harman, who carries on the Poor Girls Open that his brother Capt. Steve Harman founded. Not only is Shawn’s sister-in-law a breast can- cer survivor, but in 2016, Chrisy Rothfuss, a bartender at Fish Tales—part of Bahia Marina—was diagnosed at age 40.
Following treatment, which included a double mastectomy, Rothfuss’s cowork- ers encouraged her to get more involved with the Poor Girls Open. Previously, she’d worked during the tournament.
“When I was first diagnosed, Katy Perry’s song ‘Roar’ was popular. A great group of women got together to support me. “Roar” became my motto," Rothfuss says. "Donna Harman (Shawn’s wife) put “Roar Against Cancer” on our team T-shirts
and went fishing with our group.
“I had an amazing time. One girl on our
fishing boat caught a marlin. I caught a mahi. I encourage more women to come out to this awesome event next year. Everyone comes together and is there to support a great cause. There’s so much camaraderie and fun!”
During Rothfuss’s treatment, her co- workers were constantly at her side. “The Harmans have been hugely supportive,” says Rothfuss, who was also treated with 20 weeks of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation therapy, five days a week. “Donna set up a Facebook page for me,
a fundraiser, and insisted that I’d never
go to an appointment alone. In fact, the whole town rallied around us.”
For more information about the Poor Girls Open 2019, see bahiamarina.com.
SEPTEMBER 2018 I www.DelawareToday.com I A9