Natalie's Everyday Heroes: A homecoming at the 2026 Komen More than Pink Walk
RACINE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Hearing a cancer diagnosis once is incredibly difficult. Our everyday hero has gotten that news three times.
Through it all, she says she's always had hope.
Winnie Marquart is sharing her story to give hope to others. She's also serving as honorary chair of this year's Komen Wisconsin More than Pink Walk.
Growing up in her hometown of Racine, Winnie Marquart was always surrounded by family.
"So, I am fifth generation Johnson," she said, during a recent interview at SC Johnson headquarters.
Winnie Marquart
Memories that are captured in photographs displayed in the building.
"As the newspapers say, I was the one that moved away," she said with a laugh.
But she moved for family, too, raising her children with her husband in Virginia.
"I always had hope and I think I instilled that in my kids," Marquart said.
That hope keeps her going in her fight with breast cancer.
"Living with metastatic breast cancer, it's important to show people that you can live a full life," she said.
Marquart was only 39 years old the first time she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"They just found a little eraser tip-sized tumor and said you're going to be fine, you'll be cured," Marquart said.
Almost five years to the day, she learned her cancer had returned.
"I woke up on the table to my doctor, with this sad face, and my husband by my side crying," she recalled.
She went through chemo and radiation.
"So, I really thought I was scot-free," she said.
Marquart said as years went by, she stopped thinking about breast cancer. Until she ran into her oncologist one day, and he said she owed him a blood test.
"Fifteen years later, they did a blood test and found out it had come back," she said, noting that she didn't have any symptoms.
Even with that third diagnosis, Marquart leaned into her positive attitude, thinking of her kids.
"After each treatment, I would send them a picture with me smiling and having a funny shirt on," she said.
Over the years, Marquart has supported Susan G. Komen's work to fight breast cancer.
Her story resonates with Komen Wisconsin Executive Director Nikki Panico.
"I heard those words for a second time, like Winnie," Panico said.
Three years ago, Panico's breast cancer returned, 13 years after her first diagnosis.
"Hearing the diagnosis once, 'you have breast cancer,' you are just shocked. You hear it twice and it hits a different way," she said.
Marquart will be joining Komen Wisconsin as honorary chair of this year's More than Pink Walk.
Panico says sharing her story will help others.
"It doesn't matter your age, where you live, your socioeconomic status. One in eight women have the risk of developing breast cancer," Panico said.
It's a homecoming here in southeast Wisconsin. Marquart will walk with two of her daughters by her side.
"I celebrate the fact that I am here every day," she said.
Marquart says she gets the drug Herceptin every three weeks. Komen funding helped pay for the research to develop that therapy.
The walk is coming up this Sunday, Sept. 27, at Henry Maier Festival Park at 9 am.
CBS 58 is once again a proud sponsor of the walk. There's still time to sign up. For more information, click here.
If you'd like to nominate an Everyday Hero, send Natalie a message at [email protected].