Sumner native champions breast health
Every October, downtown Sumner swells with pink as thousands gather at Come Walk With Me to walk and fundraise in support of breast cancer patients, survivors and services at MultiCare Good Samaritan Hospital.
As a lifelong Sumner resident, Kris Arnold knows these streets better than most. Having watched nearly every woman in her family fight the disease, she’s also no stranger to the cause.
A decades-long history
Arnold was 17 when her mom Pat Tribby was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1968.
“Back then, you didn’t talk about it,” Arnold remembers. “We kind of did in the family, but you didn’t talk to your friends or neighbors.”
Tribby received care at nearby Good Samaritan, soon undergoing a biopsy and surgery to remove the mass, while Arnold looked after her sisters with her dad.
Arnold’s mom later wrote a detailed account of that time: “I thought my world had come to an end. Terror struck my heart as I thought of (my husband) Don and the girls without me. … When I returned home, life began to look a little brighter.”
Tribby fully recovered, but she lost her own mother to breast cancer in 1982. Fifteen years later, she discovered another lump in her other breast and underwent a modified radical mastectomy, beating the disease a second time.
Along with her mom and grandma, Arnold’s sisters, aunt and cousins have all undergone breast cancer treatment at Good Samaritan. The family’s experience has left an indelible mark — Arnold now feels it’s part of her “duty” to normalize talking about breast health and encourage others to get regular screenings.
“I’ve spent my life since then making sure that I have every mammogram on time because honestly, pretty much everybody in our family has survived, I believe, because they caught it early,” she explains.
Roots that run deep
Good Samaritan is more than just Arnold’s nearest community hospital.
“It’s my home in so many ways,” she says.
In 2020, Arnold retired from Good Samaritan after 46 years — most of them spent in the finance department before working with MultiCare Good Samaritan Foundation. Prior to that, her grandmother worked at the hospital for two decades. All three of Arnold’s kids were born there, as were most of her grandkids.
Shortly after retiring, she joined the Foundation board of directors to give back to the place that means so much to her, and is currently serving as the vice chair.
“It’s my passion to make Good Sam the best it can be,” Arnold shares.
A Come Walk With Me legacy
Today, Arnold also sits on the Come Walk With Me committee, volunteering her time to put on the foundation’s beloved annual event. She’s participated nearly every year since it began. 
For many of those years, Arnold walked alongside her mom, who loved to dress in pink and invite friends and family to join them. Even when Tribby could no longer attend in person, she’d wear her commemorative shirt at home, often adorned with a pink boa and sunglasses.
“Come Walk With Me gave her a voice,” Arnold reflects. “She liked to share her story with other people and be an example to say, ‘I’ve survived it … and you can, too.’”
In March, Tribby passed away at 97, and Arnold will be holding her mom’s memory close when she walks this year. The sight of participants rallying in support of breast health will be especially moving.
“It’s the power to conquer something that has caused you grief,” she shares.
Walking for the future of breast health
On Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, Come Walk With Me will kick off a month of fundraising to benefit breast health programs at Good Samaritan through MultiCare Cancer Institute (MCI).
Proceeds provide compassionate support services to patients and their families, including custom wig fittings, cooling caps, treatment handbooks, support groups, and gas and grocery cards. In 2024, donors helped equip the Dr. Richard C. Ostenson Cancer Resource Center with new infusion chairs for treatment.
This year, funds will also help support a new breast health clinic — part of MCI’s expanding breast cancer program in East Pierce County.
After championing this cause for decades, Arnold is grateful to see such continued generosity and investment in her community’s health.
“It just makes me swell with joy and appreciation, knowing what so many people have gone through, that we’re recognizing the need and creating a center of excellence … here at home,” she says.
This October, Arnold invites you to join her at The Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse and support the future of local breast cancer care.
“There’s no place where you’ll feel more supported, more loved and more empowered than at Come Walk With Me,” she says. “And giving to the cause and encouraging others to give — that’s going to make the big difference.”
Learn more and register at comewalkwithmenow.org.
