Sisters Jenny Counsel and Laura Carroll joined the 2008 Breast Cancer 3 Day to honor their mother.

Andrea Black did it out of respect for a role model.

In this case, they’re both the same person.

All three Bothell women will participate in the 60-mile walk this year as a team, paying tribute to Sue Carroll and her two successful battles against breast cancer.

“My mom is such a strong person,” Jenny said. “I figured we could honor her by committing to do this — by taking the time to raise funds and do the training.”

The Seattle Breast Cancer 3 Day takes place from Sept. 12-14.

Participants must raise $2,500 apiece to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation and the National Philanthropic Trust.

The recommended training for this event calls for walking 30 miles per week over a period of several months.

Counsel and Black knew each other as only casual acquaintances before starting that regimen together.

“We’re like best friends now,” Jenny said. “We’ve shared everything about our lives on those hikes.”

Black has become a regular these days at the Counsel residence. She does house sitting, dog sitting, and is even helping out with a kitchen remodel.

But it was Sue that she first made friends with during an algebra course at Cascadia Community College.

Black says she took a liking to the older, self-made woman who always seemed the most prepared in class.

Sue was someone she could admire, someone who inspired her.

Black’s reverence only grew as she watched how her friend battled breast cancer.

“She positively accepted the challenge and shared it with her close friends for whatever support she needed,” Black said.

Sue had gone back to school at a time when she was essentially retired. She had been trying to enrich her life when cancer made a grab for it.

Yet the disease barely altered her plans. She continued working toward an associate’s degree and followed through with the vacation that she and her husband had arranged.

“She never played the victim,” Counsel said. “She has such a good outlook on life.”

Sue was lucky in a way. The doctor who administered her mammogram that year hadn’t notice anything alarming about the results.

It took a second pair of eyes from her primary-care physician to pick up on the signs of trouble.

“If she had waited until her next yearly mammogram, it would have been too late,” Counsel said. “It kind of puts things into perspective. It’s scary that this affects lots of second-opinion people.”

Sue’s diagnosis created a certain amount of panic among those who knew her.

Counsel, who had just gotten engaged, began to re-evaluate her life.

“I was shocked,” she said. “It made me think about how I wanted to love my future and the next few years. I started to wonder if I should speed up my plans to have kids just in case she’s about to go.”

Sue underwent radiation treatment and lumpectomies to successfully remove the cancer.

Doctors found that she had more tumors this year, but the lumps were once again treatable without a mastectomy.

Just the thought of such an operation has been enough to prompt Black into action.

“Losing your breasts would be profound,” she said. “It’s the kind of thing that motivates you to walk 30 miles a day and camp out for two nights.”