fighting cancer

Our family participates every year in Relay For Life to raise funds to fight cancer. Basically, it is a 24 hour event where teams of people keep a walker on the track the entire time. Sometimes exhausting, but always fun.

We do it for the ones we love. Those who lost the battle with cancer, those who are still fighting, and those we hope will never have to.

Ever since I was young, I knew I would not die of old age. Grandma Evelyn died of skin cancer before I was born. Grandpa Forrest died of colon cancer when I was 8. Grandma Lucile died of lung cancer when I was 12. Grandpa Ralph died of prostate cancer when I was 15. Aunt Carol died of breast cancer when I was 18.

It is not all doom and gloom. Uncle Stan battled cancer and won. My brother-in-law Kevin went through experimental skin cancer treatment made possible by Relay For Life funding, and has been in remission since. My sister Shawn and niece Jessica invited me to my first Relay in 2001, and since that time I have been a team member, a team captain and on the committee for our local event.

The Wild Bunch was our team name in 2002, and it was our first year as really active team members and fundraisers. As part of a large team, it was a great chance to really figure out what Relay was all about and how many opportunities there are to volunteer before and during the event.

Late in 2002, we got the news that my sister Charlotte had a tumor. Almost miraculously, she seemed to make a full cancer-free recovery after surgery in early 2003. It was a year of celebration at Relay, and Kevin was a crowd favorite, walking 400 laps (that's 100 miles!) during the 24 hour event. (He had walked 300 laps in 2002, and 200 laps in 2001). Another crowd favorite was my nephew Logan, who won the Ms. Relay beauty pageant, where men dress up in lovely gowns and wigs and the crowd "votes" for their favorite with cash donations to ACS. It was a great event, with a lot of good memories.

But Charlotte's cancer returned that fall with a vengance, and we lost her December 1, 2003. I can no longer hear or even read the "c-word" without physical pain and tears. The hardest part to face: my children experienced their first loss of someone dear to them, and cancer became very real and very horrible to them, just like it did to me when my "Poopa" died in 1981. It was no longer something that happens to other people. It was personal.

Relay 2004 was very hard. I don't think I could have made it through without my kids. They were on the committee with me, and as very active members of the "Family Tree Frogs" team, they really kept us all going with their determination and enthusiasm to raise funds and keep spirits high.

Our team's theme was "Cancer Demolition" in 2005. My children were co-captains together, along with Charlotte's youngest son. They are truly amazing kids, with huge hearts and a new compassion for all who have lost someone close. That sweet little girl could sell sand to a desert camel; to have her in charge of a donation table isn't hardly fair to passersby.

My only son betrayed his family and joined his school's Relay For Life team in 2006, walking 200 laps for them and instigating a mostly-friendly rivalry with his sister to raise the most money. Not to be outdone, our team member Uncle Stan walked 200 laps as well; not too shabby for a __-year old cancer survivor. My mother and her sister, Stan's wife Shirley, were co-captains. I can not imagine what it must be like to lose both parents, your baby sister, and then your daughter to cancer. She doesn't think so, but Mom did a great job with the family team and kept us on the winning side with awards for our team camp and theme, the "Beach Bums."

We are now getting ready for 2007. Last year, I was able to raise over $1,200 through the iHope cancer fundraiser shop on CafePress and can't wait to donate the money toward each of my kids' fundraising goals. They know they are making a difference. God knows it is hard, when there is a cancer-related death every single day in the news, but we keep on looking to the future with hope.