Relay For Life

Cancer has had an impact on our family.

3 of my favorite Aunts - all of my Dads' sisters, lost their battles with Multiple Myeloma.

My mother and stepmother are both 10 year cancer survivors.

My father in law lost his battle with Pancreatic Cancer just 3 months after he was diagnosed.

My grandmother and grandmother in law both list their battles with Ovarian Cancer.

Over the years, we've lost young friends to cancer: Jennifer, age 18.  Andrew, age 16.  Cameron, age 12.  Brandon, age 4.  Sadly, the list goes on. 

Lives ended far too soon, taken by a horrifically wasting disease that eats people up from the inside out.

We decided several years ago that we would fight back.  We would find a way to help raise money for cancer research, and so we joined Relay for Life, started a team, and began raising money.

The money raised at Relay for Life goes to support cancer research and treatment.  It is making a very real difference in our understanding of how this disease begins, and how best to fight it.

Last night was our area Relay.  For 12 hours- from 7 pm to 7 am, members of your team walk continuously around the track.

The journey through the night is symbolic of the journey a cancer patient makes during treatment.  The dark and difficult hours between 1 and 3 am when only a handful of people are out on the track, plodding along.  And then, at the darkest hour?  When you are tired and exhausted?  The sun slowly begins to peek over the horizon, showing the glorious hope & promise of a new day.

I do believe that we are within ten years of big breakthroughs.  There's work on a test for pancreatic cancer - a non invasive test that would catch that deadly cancer in its earliest, and most treatable stage.  Can you imagine?  Groundbreaking research has been occurring in nutrition - and what role diet and food has to play in the progression of this disease.  New cancer therapies are constantly being found and making very real differences in the lives of people everywhere.

Much of this research is funded through fundraising efforts, and Relay for Life is one of those efforts.

For several years now, we have been participants.

Relay is a huge party.  We celebrate the survivors.  We honor the caregivers.  We remember those we've lost.  And still, we keep moving forward.  Many teams are family teams, with several generations participating.  Many are groups of friends, united by the fight or loss of a loved one.  Other teams are civic groups, churches, or businesses.  Everyone sees people they haven't seen in a year.  People catch up with each other, people reminisce, and celebrate the fact that we're making a difference.

I invite you to find out more about Relay in your community.  If you've never been, go.  Most Relays have a kids walk- a dynamic, wonderful couple of hours where the young kids get to bounce around and celebrate life.  

The most meaningful moment is the luminary lighting- when the luminaries around the track are lit in honor and memory of those who have fought the battle against cancer.