On several occasions in the past, I have participated in American Cancer Society's Relay for Life - a fundraising event held all across the country to raise money for cancer research and for support services for cancer patients and caregivers. My original impetus for joining a Relay team was a friend's breast cancer diagnosis which happened right when I first heard about Relay. This diagnosis was just the most recent encounter (at that time) with the ravages of cancer. Kendall's mom died of breast cancer two days after Kendall and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. The smile on her face and her reaching out to hug Kendall from her hospital bed when he told her the news was the last time we saw her conscious. Yes, cancer hits home.
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| Kendall and his mom (Barbara Miller) at our wedding |
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Since my first Relay as a team member, I have captained and co-captained Relay teams - each one a unique and powerful experience. Typically, Relay is a grand and boisterous event held at a running track. Lots of teams, tents, food, music, activities - and throngs of people all supporting the worthy cause of fighting cancer.
It starts with a Survivors' walk circling once around the track then team members start their laps.
For me, the most powerful moment is when the luminaria, dedicated in honor of or in memory of individuals, are lit and their names are read. So many luminaria, each snuggled right up to the next, all the way around the track...so many people affected by cancer. For one of my Relays, each member of Kendall's family (his siblings and their children and grandchildren) decorated luminaria in memory of his mom.
This year, I once again decided to participate in Relay for Life. Losing two friends to cancer in January and enduring my 16th skin cancer surgery in February got me rolling again with Relay. I officially registered with the University of Colorado Relay for Life event scheduled to be held in April. However, because of COVID, I will be "relaying" on the first day of Spring (new life! new hope!) as a socially distanced one-person team. I had originally planned to run 16 laps around Taz's YaYa loop (see my blog post from February 9th) - one lap for each surgery. However! We got a couple feet of heavy wet snow a few days ago and the conditions of that loop currently range from barely runnable to unrunnable due to packed snow, ice, ice water, and mud (very slippery mud I might add - I was just out there today - yikes!). I now have a plan B which is to do one lap around YaYa to check on current conditions and if not vastly improved, move to a nearby loop on neighborhood streets. (YaYa is a 0.9 mile loop; the neighborhood street loop is 0.85 - close enough.) It will be a different sort of Relay - but the cause remains oh-so-worthy.
If you would like to donate to Relay for Life, my fundraising page is:
http://main.acsevents.org/goto/pjvrelay
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| Sunrise at 2016 Relay for Life ... the challenge continues ... |
