SAN DIEGO – October is breast cancer awareness month and a local survivor is using her love of craft beer to help other women fight the disease.
Customers usually come to the High Dive in Bay Park for the good drinks and good food, but this month they’re getting extra awareness.
“Breast cancer isn’t fun to talk about, but hey beer and breast cancer? It kind of opens things up a little bit,” High Dive proprietor Ingrid Alvarez said.
Alvarez was diagnosed with the disease five years ago, but with research funded by Susan G. Komen the mother of three was given a fighting chance.
“Seven years ago, my chances of survival were 30 percent,” Alvarez said. “Now, it’s not a chance of surviving this disease, it’s a chance of it reoccurring in the next three years.”
Alvarez has been cancer free for two years, but she’s still fighting the disease and she’s doing it the best way she knows how.
Alvarez founded the group Chicks for Beer just before she was diagnosed and what started as a group to introduce women to craft beers has turned into a non-profit that raises money for the cause every month.
“It gave me a different venue to speak to women about Susan G. Komen, about cancer and about checking themselves,” Alvarez said. “If you donate to the local chapter $0.75 of every dollar stays here in San Diego.”
The bar also carries brews like the Green Flash “Treasure Chest,” which funds breast cancer research.
“It’s like a win-win for the customers, which is awesome,” High Dive beer manager Eric Borchert said.
Alvarez became such a vocal advocate and was named the honorary survivor at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in 2011.
Women still reach out to her for support and she’s happy to give them whatever advice she can.
“Getting breast cancer has been a huge responsibility for me because I had to become an advocate,” Alvarez said. “It’s a big responsibility for me to reach out to other women and say that it’s OK you can make it through this.”