This was my first year participating in the relay and it was both an emotional and interesting experience.
For anyone who knows me they know that I am not a procrastinator at all. I usually plan things as much in advance as possible with very little wiggle room and I pride myself in that. Last year I had plans of walking with my niece's team with the credit union she works at. I knew when I agreed to do it that it was the week after Matthew's wedding but I figured all the stress would be gone and it would be no problem. Not... days after the wedding I got strep throat and was sick for a week. It turned out that the yearly relay had to be moved due to rainy weather so I wasn't too upset. I knew my donation was going to a good cause even if I couldn't fully participate.
I woke up Friday morning praying the weather would hold and they wouldn't have to move the venue again this year. It actually turned out to be a pretty reasonable day weather wise.
The evening started at 6:00 p.m. with the opening ceremony and the caregiver speaker who was the widow of our city mayor who passed away weeks ago from cancer. Next was the survivor lap of all those who have beaten, are in remission or are in a current battle with cancer. It surprised and saddened me how many people I knew in that lap. All ages and backgrounds.
The theme for this year's relay was "1980's Blast to the Past"-Back to the 80's Where Hope Began. Of course for me alot happened in this decade... I met my husband, had both my children, and found out I was adopted. Wow that's alot but for those who dealt with cancer it seems like so little.
Part way into the night they had a luminary ceremony where those who wished could purchase a luminary to put along the quarter mile track we were walking. As we walked around the darkened track illuminated only by the luminaries and our candles and the moonlight I was stricken with how many of those in honor or in memory I knew. I actually lost count after 10.
The youngest was a classmate of my daughter's who passed away our first year in MO. Sadly I had completely forgotten that she had died from a rather rare form of cancer.
If the evening could not have been more symbolic for me and when the tears came, I was walking around with my niece and my two great nieces and we were talking about my hairdresser who I had just attended her visitation the night before. I hadn't realized that her sister-in-law was the nurse that had been taking care of Stacie during her last three weeks in the hospital. We were commenting on how hard it had been this time to deal with her care when the wind blew our candles out. As another one of our team stopped to help us light our candles I looked over to the luminary I was standing in front of and it was Stacie's! We both said it must have been some sort of sign from her. Call it what you may, for those of us who believe in that sort of thing it brought a chill.
It was also bittersweet for us because my niece mentioned that she wished her grandma (my MIL) could have walked a lap. I too had that wish but for some who have this disease it just is not to be. but to coin the words on the front of the program-Relay for Life is the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who are battling cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.
I know in my heart I have done my utmost to mark several things off the list that the Fight Back Ceremony represented. Participants are drawn to this event because of the desire to fight back against cancer. Everyone must have a year long commitment to fighting this disease to make a real impact. Be it getting your own mammogram, persuading a loved one to get a colonoscopy, helping as a caregiver in whatever way you are able, contacting your legislators and relaying your support for new laws and health care reform, whatever you do it is a step in the direction of someday getting a cure for all cancers.
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