THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607110177
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: 100 lines
Leigh Moorhouse was paddling frantically, trying to outdistance an alligator that had slithered off the marshy bank of South Carolina's Intracoastal Waterway and had set out in hot pursuit of her ocean kayak.
The sleek, greenish-brown reptile was just a paddle length's distance in her wake, and Moorhouse was beginning to tire from the effort.
``I kept thinking that I didn't want to find out what was going to happen if I stopped,'' said Moorhouse, who's now ``just a tad over halfway'' on her solo kayak trip up the East Coast of the United States to raise money for the fight against breast cancer.
The 2,100-mile journey is described and updated on the Internet at http://www.letlive.com.
The 41-year-old Berkeley, Calif., woman arrived in Virginia Beach last week to rest up at the home of Lillie and Joe Gilbert, owners of Wild River Outfitters. A few days later, she put her kayak into the waters of the West Neck Creek about 10 miles north of the North Carolina border and paddled to Lynnhaven Bay. From there, she set out across the Chesapeake Bay on her trip north.
Moorhouse left Key Largo, Fla., on April 14, and when she puts into port at Eastport, Maine, sometime in early August, she will become the first woman to kayak the East Coast alone.
But she'll still have miles to go - 1,600 of them - before she finishes her ``Live and Let Live'' project.
Next summer, she'll paddle from British Columbia, Canada, to Baja, Calif., taking about three months for the Pacific Ocean jaunt. Then, she'll hold the record for both coasts. The West Coast is ``the most challenging coastal ocean kayaking water in the world,'' said Moorhouse.
The two-leg project has, so far, raised $32,300. But, just as importantly, said Moorhouse, her effort has heightened awareness about the disease that strikes one in eight American women each year.
Moorhouse's goal is to raise $100,000 this summer and a like amount next summer for The Breast Cancer Fund, a public trust foundation headquartered in San Francisco. The 4-year-old organization has raised and spent more than $2 million in the last three years on education and advocacy as well as cutting-edge research. It sponsors many outdoor challenge events for which corporate and individual pledges are sought.
Last year, for example, The Breast Cancer Fund sponsored 17 breast cancer survivors in a climb of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina. At 23,985 feet above sea level, Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the western hemisphere. The assault on the peak was the centerpiece of the organization's two-year ``Expedition Inspiration'' project.
The Breast Cancer Fund was started in 1992 by breast cancer survivor Andrea Martin.
Moorhouse, a publication director for a sports magazine who also teaches kayaking, said that she decided to use her abilities for the fight against breast cancer after losing two friends to the disease and watching three more undergo treatment.
``It's an epidemic,'' she said. ``I didn't know I could give something back doing something I like. I sell T-shirts. I stand on the corner and solicit donations with my boat.'' Most money collected has come in small sums from individuals rather than in large amounts from corporations, said Moorhouse. But it's the big business funding that could make a difference, she said.
During her stay locally, she paddled up to Waterside and set up shop there, selling T-shirts and accepting donations from the public.
According to information on The Breast Cancer Fund's Internet site, 1.8 million American women have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 1 million more have it and don't yet know it. And, whereas today one in eight American women can expect to be diagnosed with the disease, 30 years ago, the ratio was only one in 20. In 1990, breast cancer accounted for 17 percent of cancer deaths, but consumed only 6 percent of the federal cancer research budget.
``We've got to show Congress'' that more is needed, said Moorhouse, who will be guest of honor July 19 at a ``Sunset on the Potomac'' fund-raiser in Washington, D.C.
The Breast Cancer Fund wants more research done on what appear to be ``pockets'' of breast cancer incidence, said Moli Steinert, development director. These include Cape Cod, Long Island, Hawaii and Washington, D.C., among others.
Another area of research the organization is focusing on is what seems to be a higher incidence of prostate cancer in these same areas of the country.
``We're growing,'' said Steinert. ``We grow by the work of people like Leigh. She's one individual trying to make a difference. It's people taking it upon themselves to try to fill in some of the gaps.''
Moorhouse paddles between 28 and 32 miles a day, stopping to rally support for her cause along the way. Sometimes she camps out. Her supplies and gear are transported from place to place by James ``Cal'' Giles, an activist who lost his wife to breast cancer.
The alligator chase came as a surprise to Moorhouse, who had been told that ``they wouldn't bother me. I'd seen plenty of them lying around in marshes. It was early morning, and I saw it start to come out from the edge. I accelerated as fast as I could. But they can swim 30 miles an hour.''
After pursuing the kayak for several hundred yards, the gator dropped back, said Moorhouse. ``I was exhausted. Locals' explanation was that it was probably a female protecting her nest. Mating season was two months ago.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MIKE HEFFNER
During her 2,100-mile journey up the East Coast, Leigh Moorhouse
paddled up to Waterside and set up shop there, selling T-shirts and
accepting donations from the public for the Breast Cancer Fund. by CNB