Update: North Wright County Today is sad to update that Erin passed away Monday, June 15, 2020. Remme bravely battled stage four metastatic breast cancer for over 3.5 years.
Erin Remme, a 34-year-old mother of three from Albertville, is a powerful force in the world of stage four cancer fundraising. Remme has been living with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer for three years, and she has used a good deal of that precious time to raise huge sums of money for metastatic cancer research and treatment options. Her big fundraiser, the second annual Metsquerade, takes place Saturday, Oct. 19, in Minneapolis.
Remme was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 31, when her youngest child was an infant. She began an aggressive treatment plan immediately after diagnosis, but she quickly learned the cancer had already spread to her bones.
The community has rallied around the Remme family, which includes her husband, Josh, and their three children: 10-year-old Carter, seven-year-old Reese and four-year-old Harrison. Earlier this month the STMA Youth Hockey Association and Millennium Dance Company, organizations the older two Remme children are part of, held a Remme Rally fundraiser and raised over $7,000 for the upcoming Metsquerade. Remme said their neighbor children throughout Albertville’s Towne Lakes neighborhood have worked hard to raise nearly $1,000 for the event by selling lemonade and other items all through the summer.
Remme puts on the Metsquerade with the help of family and friends, who have taken volunteer positions on an executive team dedicated to the fundraiser’s success. Last year’s inaugural event had over 800 attendees and raised $180,000 for metastatic breast cancer research. Remme presented a grant to the University of Minnesota with those funds shortly after last year’s event.
“This wouldn’t be possible without the support of our community,” Remme said. “I was amazed with how many people came from our community. It’s an easy event to do when you have so much support.”
Event Details
Tickets for the Metsquerade are currently on sale at minneapolismets.org, and Remme said they already have 730 tickets sold. The event takes place at the Renaissance Minneapolis Hotel, The Depot. Alix Kendall, a FOX 9 morning news anchor, will be this year’s emcee, and the event includes a silent and live auction, cocktail hour, dinner, program and after party. Black tie dress and masks are optional, but encouraged.
100 percent of the event’s proceeds go to METAvivor Research and Support, a nonprofit foundation founded by metastatic breast cancer patients in Annapolis, Maryland, who in turn will give 100 percent of all funds raised to stage 4 metastatic breast cancer (MBC) research.
“METAvivor is literally the only [non-profit] that can say they give 100 percent of their proceeds to stage 4 research,” Remme said.
That research, she added, is critical to giving hope to stage 4 patients.
“It’s hard when you’re already living with it, because it does take a long time for research to happen,” Remme said. “But it can’t happen unless they have the funding. We don’t ever want to say it’s too late for us, because there’s medications I’ve been on that weren’t even out when I was first diagnosed. That wouldn’t have happened without research.”
Leah Cota, Remme’s friend and a member of the Metsquerade executive team, said it’s inspiring to see Remme advocate for this cause while fighting the disease herself.
“Erin is one of a kind,” she said. “Her heart, amazing outlook and smile are contagious to anyone that meets her. In the midst of a scary diagnosis and trying to raiser her kids, she still makes it a priority to be a wonderful advocate for all those affected by metastatic breast cancer.”
How to Help
If you want to help the Remme family and the Metsquerade, Remme said they are taking donations through their website, minneapolismets.org and donations for the silent and live auctions. Email info@minneapolismets.org if you have something to donate for the auctions.
“I envision a world where we don’t have to worry about this anymore,” Remme said. “When breast cancer is so prevalent, I would love a world for our children to not even have this be a worry. The more we put the money where it should be, the more that is a possibility.”
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