ROWLEY — Saturday, June 21, is a day Patti Cummings of Arbor Way will remember fondly forever. That is the day that she completed a triathlon healthy and strong after recovering from breast cancer.

She and three friends — Lori Pizzano, Karen Lowrie and Lisa Mammone — swam 1 mile, kayaked 2 miles and walked 3 miles in the Against the Tide for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition mini-triathlon, held at Hopkinton State Park in Hopkinton.

They pledged a team "Take 5 for $5," asking only for $5 donations to represent the 5 miles in total they would complete in the event. "We believe in this organization because they are out to prevent breast cancer, and not merely cure it," Cummings said.

Finishing this triathlon has such significance for Cummings since she had first tried it soon after chemotherapy and radiation treatments for her breast cancer two years ago and only had the energy to complete the walk portion of the triathlon.

"That was when I made a pledge to myself to fight back and get into shape ... to not let the cancer or the treatment beat me," Cummings said. Despite being left with no hair, eyebrows or eyelashes, with aching joints from the radiation and 20 pounds of extra weight from the ordeal, she, along with her friends Lowrie and Mammone, began meeting at 5:30 a.m. twice a week to work out.

"At first it was extremely difficult, but I stuck with it and soon my strength and energy level was soaring," she said. "Life has changed now. I have grown my hair back, lost 20 pounds and am in the best shape I have been in in years."

So when her 5 for $5 team pledged to complete this year's Against the Tide for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition triathlon, she was more than ready. She and her team raised $525 for the event, which raised $94,000 in total for breast cancer prevention.

Cummings' team participated alongside the New England Sports Network team of 50 people. "They may have made the news, but it was me who was the winner, not of the event, but by reaching my goal. I finished all three events with my husband, my two sons and my teammates cheering me on," she said.

Cummings is currently living "cancer-free," enjoying every minute of life. "I am so thankful for the support of my family, my friends and the community — from my neighbors who made meals for us to the baseball moms who watched my kids for me to Rocco at the barbershop who, when my hair began to fall out, offered to shave my head after-hours for my privacy. Make no mistake about it, Rowley is one of the best places to live."

According to the Breast Cancer Coalition Web site, breast cancer now strikes more women in the world than any other type of cancer. In the past 50 years, the lifetime risk of breast cancer has nearly tripled in the United States. Today, a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer is one in seven.