A Gardendale woman is continuing her tradition of raising money to find a cure for cancer.

In October, Tonya Brown participated in her second annual Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure Walk, which is a fund-raiser for breast cancer research.

The event takes participants on a 60-mile walk in three days, where they camp overnight in tents.

This year she and friends Dee Burgett of Gardendale and Christy McMahan of Ramer, Tenn., took part in the Atlanta event. Last year Brown and her mother Edith Long walked in the Denver walk. Brown said there are 14 different annual 3-Day for the Cure Walks across the country.

“This year we trained a lot better,” Brown said. “I kind of knew what to expect.”

The three-woman team walked more than 500 miles to train for the walk. They followed a 24-week training guide provided by the Susan G. Komen organization.

The training helped; of the 2,400 participants, Brown said her team finished in the top 100 or top 200 every day.

Her team, called “Pinked Out for Life,” raised $8,778, partly through the Pink Ribbon Run that Brown has organized the last two years in Gardendale. She is planning to hold the run again in 2012.

Brown is interested in raising funds for breast cancer research because she is a two-time breast cancer survivor.

She was diagnosed the first time in 2000 and again in 2005.

Brown also has a strong family history of breast cancer; her mother, Long, and her grandmother, the late Ethel Harris, both had breast cancer.

Brown is married to Mitchell Brown; they have two sons, Seth and Grant, who were ages 3 and 2 the first time Brown was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Some of Brown’s family members drove to Atlanta to be part of a cheering station, many of which were set up along the walking route to encourage the walkers.

For next year, Brown and her team are considering taking part in the 3-Day for the Cure Walk in Tampa.