Amherst resident and cancer survivor Susanna Hargreaves is participating in next week's Over the Edge fundraiser on behalf of Pink Revolution, a support organization for people undegoing cancer treatments.

MANCHESTER – A self-described “small town mom” and “avid educator and writer” who is also a triple-negative cancer survivor is putting her fears aside this week and joining dozens of other brave souls in a unique fundraiser that involves jumping off the roof of a 24-story downtown building.

Like all participants, however, Susanna Hargreaves, one of six women representing Pink Revolution Breast Cancer Alliance of New Hampshire at the event, will be attached to a network of ropes, safety harnesses, rings, carabiners and anchors, and wearing climbing shoes, helmets and special gloves.

If that sounds like the adrenaline-pumping sport of rappelling, it’s because that’s exactly what the estimated 100 or so participants will be doing this coming Monday and Tuesday.

The annual event, organized by the United Way of Greater Nashua, brings together members of at least 15 nonprofit organizations, who enter the 24-story Brady Sullivan building, 1000 Elm St., go up to the top and, under the watchful eyes of experts, climb over the side and rappel their way back down.

The participating agencies are typically quite diverse, ranging from Pink Revolution to the Nashua PAL, Family Promise, The Nashua Youth Council and more, including both the Greater Nashua and Granite United Ways.

“Nope, I do not like heights, but it’s for a really good cause … I have faith I will be totally safe,” Hargreaves, an English language arts teacher and library media specialist at the Clark Elementary School in Amherst, said last week.

Facing fears is not a new concept for Hargreaves, who has undergone extensive treatment for triple negative breast cancer, a very rare type of cancer that is more difficult to treat than most other types.

“I feel like ‘going over the edge’ is sort of a metaphor for my life right now,” she said, adding that “facing my fears empowers me. “This is an opportunity for me to challenge myself and promote awareness which will really help others in need and give others hope.”

Having learned how “humbling and difficult” it is to go through chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Hargreaves said that when she found out that “there are cancer patients struggling to pay for gas to get to their treatment appointments, and struggling to put food on the table, changed my perspective even more.”

Trying to battle cancer during these difficult times “all seems unimaginable,” she said.

Being in a position to support Pink Revolution, and therefore the people who need that support, “is so important to me, because (the organization) really helps support cancer patients financially,” Hargreaves said.

“As a survivor, I am so very grateful to be able to help raise money for my fellow warriors. I want people who are fighting cancer to know they can get through it, that there is support, and they are not alone,” she said.

“There is hope.”

For more information on Over the Edge, including how to support the event and how to register, go to www.tinyurl.com/luote2022 or contact Mike Apfelberg at 603-864-0202 or mapfelberg@unitedwaynashua.org.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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