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Forget about Kelly, Richard and Rudy - there are plenty of real-life

survivors right here in Fayette County.

While TV's popular castaways schemed and connived to win a million

dollars, 25 local women have raised more than $75,000 for the Avon Breast

Cancer Crusade. They will join about 3,500 participants, mostly women,

at Lake Lanier Sept. 22 to begin their three-day, 60-mile walk to Atlanta.

This is the second year for the Avon Walk in Atlanta, and Audrey Fowler's

second year as a participant. The Peachtree City resident is a breast

cancer survivor, wife, teacher and local organizer for the event.

Fowler will participate in the walk's opening and closing ceremonies,

joining in the "Circle of Survivors." The three-day walk ends

in Piedmont Park Sunday, Sept, 24, at around 4 p.m.

Training for the endurance walk has been a weekly event for these women,

who have all been touched either directly or indirectly by breast cancer.

The group, which ranges in age from 17 to 62, starts promptly at 6:30

a.m. each Saturday and heads toward Huddleston Pond.

By 8 a.m., they've made it to the Kedron Village Kroger where they

break for a cool drink, a donut or bagel and a some leg stretches. Soon

they're off again, walking in a southerly direction toward Crosstown

Road on the opposite side of town. They circle back to their point of

origin around 11 a.m.

Why do they do it?

"We're doing it so our daughters and sons won't have to

face this heart-wrenching disease," one woman said.

Another added, "All the money we raised last year went for detection

and education. This year it will go for research."

Recipients of these financially significant grants include Emory University

Hospital's Winship Cancer Center and the National Breast Cancer Coalition

(NBCC), according to the walking team.

Each participant agrees to raise a minimum of $1,800 for the Avon Breast

Cancer Crusade. The local group has already exceeded its fund-raising

mark. One thing the group eventually hopes to see developed is a blood

test to detect breast cancer which would not only prove to be more effective,

but obviously more comfortable than a mammogram.

On the lighter side, Fowler notes that the walk is "a lot of fun.

We walk and talk and develop lots of new friendships.

"We have this bond," she explained. "These are friendships

that will last a lifetime."

Around Peachtree City, the complete group is "very formidable,"

the women joked. "People move aside when they see us coming."

As the weekend approaches for the walk, the women said they would slack

off gradually to be in good shape for the event. "We learned last

year that this is an endurance event, not a race," Fowler and her

friends agreed.

In training, the women are tackling more hills and learning to adjust

their pace. The last big push will be this weekend, when a number of walkers

will go for 60 miles around Peachtree City.

No more applications are being accepted for this year's event, but

training will gear up soon for the 2001 Avon three-day. For information,

phone 404-257-5553. Volunteers to help along the route are still needed.