Mom’s Day tale

Most mothers enjoy receiving flowers and gifts on Mother’s Day, but not Linda Branton. She tells her daughter not to bring her presents.

Instead, every Mother’s Day weekend for the past three years, the Newbury Park mom and her daughter have participated in the Revlon Run/Walk for Women in Los Angeles. This year Branton decided to ask her co-workers to join her for the event this Saturday at the L.A. Coliseum. The response she received was more than she expected.

"I wasn’t sure at first how people would react," Branton said. "All of a sudden it started to take off. We have put together a fabulous team."

Branton is a sales account coordinator with Prudential California Realty’s Thousand Oaks office.

"It’s a real statement when a group does it," said April Aubery, of Santa Rosa Valley, who works as a Prudential broker with her husband, Dennis, who will also participate in the run/walk.

Aubery has had several breast cancer scares herself having had a number of lumps removed. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor and the two women go together to receive mammograms every six months.

Karen Hawkins, a buyer’s agent in Prudential’s North Ranch office, has a twin sister who is a breast cancer survivor.

"This is all about fundraising and awareness and hopefully putting an end to this disease," Hawkins said. "Many of us have daughters and we don’t want this to be a factor in their lifetime."