Three years after her breast cancer diagnosis, Dawnesha Beaver will join 1,200+ Riversiders Saturday morning for Pink on Parade—the annual walk up Mount Rubidoux that funds the free cancer support services she now leads as a survivor.
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Three years after her breast cancer diagnosis, Dawnesha Beaver will join 1,200+ Riversiders Saturday morning for Pink on Parade—the annual walk up Mount Rubidoux that funds the free cancer support services she now leads as a survivor.
On October 9, 2022, Beaver was sitting in a work meeting when the call came. Stage 2 breast cancer. She was 38 years old. But the diagnosis didn't shock her. Days earlier, a mammogram technician had stopped her at the door after an unusually long imaging session, looked her in the eye, and said: "Things are going to change for you after this day."
Three years later, Beaver stands as Vice President of Programs and Services at Riverside Community Health Foundation, bringing her survivor's perspective to lead the organization's cancer support programs. This Saturday, she'll participate in her first Pink on Parade, the annual breast cancer awareness walk that funds the services she now oversees—and once desperately needed herself.
"It means more than a job to me because it's my story," Beaver said.
What Beaver discovered on her cancer journey was both the critical importance of patient navigation and the gaps many women face in accessing care and information.
Unlike most newly diagnosed patients, Beaver had a unique advantage: she worked in the medical field. Her supervisor, a family medicine physician, sat down with her and translated every medical term in her pathology report, explained survival rates, and helped her understand treatment options.
"I know that my narrative is unique because I actually had a medical doctor with me at the time of receiving my results," Beaver said. "That's not everyone's narrative and everyone's journey."
The experience revealed what would become her mission: ensuring other women have access to the information, support, and resources she had to fight to obtain.
During her final month of chemotherapy, Beaver moved from Eastvale to Riverside and began searching for a cancer exercise specialist. Her search led her to the Pink Ribbon Place, Riverside Community Health Foundation's cancer resource center.
What started as a simple inquiry about exercise programs turned into a conversation about everything she'd learned navigating the healthcare system. Within weeks, she met with the foundation's leadership, and by December 2, 2023, she'd joined as Vice President of Programs and Services.
"Everything that I was doing in Los Angeles, the foundation was doing here," Beaver said.
Now she leads programs that served over 580 people with cancer in 2024, distributed 1,175 items—including wigs, breast prostheses, and post-surgical garments—to 174 clients, and supported 61 people through cancer support groups. Health education navigators helped 178 clients navigate the healthcare system, a service Beaver knows is invaluable.
"When you're in this space, it's important that you don't isolate," Beaver said. "It's important to be in community, to be with friends, to be in relationship. The worst thing you can do is be by yourself because you get into thoughts, you get insecurities."
All of the Pink Ribbon Place's services are provided at no cost—a model that removes barriers for families already stretched thin by medical bills and lost work hours.
Pink on Parade has become critical funding for maintaining these services. Last year's walk raised $66,400 with approximately 1,200 participants—funds that go entirely to refilling the product bank with wigs, prostheses, and post-surgical garments; providing grocery gift cards for families struggling financially; and supplying chemo comfort kits.
This year's event expects to match or exceed last year's turnout, with final registration numbers coming in throughout the week leading up to Saturday's walk.
For Beaver, the symbolism of Pink on Parade's signature 5K walk up Mount Rubidoux carries deep personal meaning.
"That walk is a journey up, it's a journey around," she said. "Sometimes you look over and you don't see guardrails, you don't see the sides. You don't know what it's going to turn out to be, but you're taking each step to make it up to the top."
"The only way that you can get to the top of the mountain is that you're going to have to put one foot in front of the other," Beaver said. "The only way that you can get to chemo, the only way that you can get through your surgery, the only way that you can get through the nights at home that nobody sees—you do the best you can with every breath that you have."
Participants who aren't ready for the mountain climb can choose the 1.8K Family Fun Walk that circles Ryan Bonaminio Park. The event is pet-friendly, with a pet parade scheduled for 8 a.m.
The Survivor Pavilion offers a VIP experience for cancer survivors and those currently in treatment—a space designed to pamper and honor them. This year's pavilion features massages, facials, makeup services, goody bags, and light breakfast from Riverside Community Hospital.
"We want these women to feel pampered," Melendez said. "We want them to feel like they're the important ones here because that's really what they are."
All survivors receive a special shirt identifying them as part of the survivor community.
For people currently in treatment or recently diagnosed who might feel overwhelmed by attending a large public event, Beaver offers encouragement rooted in her own experience.
"Take a walk of faith. Put one step in front of the other and show up," she said. "When you get around people who are on the journey, they're able to give you their strength. When you're low and they're high, you meet in the middle."
On Saturday, Beaver's family and church members will travel from Los Angeles to walk alongside her—her first Pink on Parade, but far from her last. There'll be people walking with memories in mind, people thinking about their days through chemo and radiation, people walking for family members no longer here.
"We know one in eight women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year," she said. "This walk allows our community to partner with us on this journey to celebrate those who have made the fight, those who are in the fight, those who are preparing for the fight."
Saturday, October 18, 7:30 a.m. to noon at Ryan Bonaminio Park, 5000 Tequesquite Ave, Riverside. Check-in 7:30 a.m. | Pet parade 8 a.m. | Survivor celebration 8:30 a.m. | 5K Mount Rubidoux walk 9 a.m. | 1.8K Family Fun walk 9:15 a.m.
Registration: Kids 10 and under free, youth (11-17) and seniors (55+) $20, adults (18+) $30. Register at pinkonparade.org. Parking at Ryan Bonaminio Park and along Tequesquite Avenue. Bring walking shoes, sunscreen, hat, and pink gear. Pets welcome. Features include vendor expo, kids zone, food and drink, Survivor Pavilion, and classic car show. Can't attend? Donate at pinkonparade.org or email pink@rchf.org for volunteer opportunities.
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