Donna Deegan prepares for 13th annual Donna Marathon in Jacksonville

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The weekend kicks off the 13th annual Donna Marathon.

The race starts and ends at the Beaches Town center.

Action News Jax caught up with Donna Deegan for more on why this run is so important to those who have been impacted by breast cancer.

Deegan is a three-time cancer survivor.

What you need to know: Donna Marathon returns this weekend

The former news anchor spent 30 years on the air. Her first battle with cancer was in 1999 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Two years later she was diagnosed again.

"I didn’t want to talk about it on the air anymore so I started a blog. I started hearing from women who needed assistance, who were choosing between food and medicine," Deegan said.

That's what gave her the idea to start a foundation.

The Donna Foundation was started in 2003 to help pay for the needs of underserved families that are going through breast cancer treatment.

"All of that pain that people were sharing and to do something positive with it. It was just a godsend honestly," Deegan said.

In 2008 they started the marathon to help fund lifesaving research at Mayo Clinic.

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Deegan said when she was diagnosed with cancer the second time she got genetic testing done and found out she had the BRCA1 mutation.

She started to ask more questions and found out that her grandmother and great-grandmother also had breast cancer.

Doctors say those with the gene have a higher risk of developing cancer.

“When people are out, they are running for a purpose. That’s very powerful and then the people we are running for are very often standing at the sidelines saying ‘Thank you for running for me,’ or ‘Thank you for running for my mother.' The vibe is just incredibly loving and unifying."

So far they’ve been able to raise $6 million for cancer research.

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