MERRILLVILLE | Pat O'Day refused to dwell on her breast cancer diagnosis.

The whirlwind three weeks after the 61-year-old Schererville resident found the lump in her right breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer in late August left little time for hesitation.

O'Day accepted her doctor's recommendation and agreed to let him remove her right breast in a surgery performed in mid-September.

"I said, 'This is what's got to be done. Let's do it and get it over with,'" O'Day said. "I didn't want to sit around and think about it."

O'Day and a group of family and friends are participating in the American Cancer Society's 10th annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk at 1 p.m. today at Hidden Lake Park in Merrillville.

Last year, more than 2,000 walkers raised $160,000 for breast cancer research through the event.

Aside from nonmelanoma skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It is the leading cause of cancer death in Hispanic women and the second most common cause of cancer death in most other races.

O'Day said she found out about the event when her son's girlfriend said she would walk the event in honor of O'Day.

"I thought, 'Well why can't I walk?'" O'Day said. "I just hope they find a cure."