Need to be reminded you’re alive—and glad you are?
There’s nothing quite like a roomful of enthusiastic people coming together to plan an event celebrating life, remembering and honoring the lives of loved ones, and working hard to fight back against a common enemy (cancer) to do that for you…except the event itself, where you’re on a huge fairgrounds filled with hundreds and hundreds of people coming together to do the same thing.
Relay for Life is a very big thing. It’s a force and an event and a feeling…and more and more each day, I find it being a source of hope and renewal for me. It’s something I want to share with others. Yes, it’s true that Relay is a fundraising event, and every time I mention it, I’m sure most people tune it out for that reason. But the money raised at Relay goes in very large part to LOCAL cancer needs—education, transportation of patients to and from therapy, etc. And research—the very vital research that turns out new discoveries of causes, develops new and better treatments (the chemotherapy my mom took 21 years ago for her breast cancer made her horribly sick—today, there are drugs to combat that nausea), and furthers information for PREVENTION of cancer—Relay money does all that.
But that money does a lot more that you can SEE immediately during Relay itself. You can purchase luminaries in honor or memory of a loved one with cancer (or yourself!)—these are lit at dusk in a silent ceremony that there is no way to describe how incredibly moving it is. Hundreds and hundreds of lights burning in defiance of a wretched disease, and in celebration of the lives it touches. Knowing that MY name, and the name of my mother, and some of my friends were on some of those bags—well, it frankly just made me cry—but they were tears of love and relief and gratitude….and, yes, CELEBRATION of those lives represented.
And that’s just one part of Relay. There are Relay Team booths set up with neat things to buy and do-- food and fun and prizes and games and information—REAL information, with phone numbers and contacts of services available in our area. There are bouncy-houses for kids to play in, face painting, music, entertainment. And there is the “walk” itself, where the various teams take laps all night long (you don’t have to stay for all of THAT—but it’s okay if you do—we party all night long on May 20!), starting out with a “Survivor Lap” at 7:00 p.m….where EVERY cancer survivor in the area is encouraged to come join us (AND enjoy a free meal at 5:00 pm before the other festivities start!).
I fought cancer—and thankfully won—six years after my mother died from it; in fact, I had my second surgery on the anniversary of her death. That was 15 years ago now, but I didn’t learn until last year—my first year to actually participate in the Relay for Life all-night event—just how much pain and joy and hope and sorrow were still inside me from my experience with losing my mom…and then dealing with my own cancer. Once you’ve had that “C-word” thrown at you, nothing is ever the same. Nothing.
But last year, I learned that that was okay. I AM a different person for having had such close encounters with cancer, and I wouldn’t want to NOT be different. I really do celebrate the daily lives of everyone I love. I get angry, depressed, frustrated just like before, of course—and I’ve had more than my share of tragedies to deal with….but still…STILL…in the back of my mind and heart I know better now what truly matters. And this second year of my involvement with Relay—and all the great people I’m meeting and sharing time with in a common cause—it’s helping me to again find that wellspring of refreshment and zest for life…that will help me do something positive with all I have learned from the pain and loss.
Our “Team Phipps” slogan this year, “We’re putting up our dukes against cancer,” makes me smile. A very brash, young-looking John Wayne is on the poster, poking his fists into the camera with the utter confidence of victory that he’s going to knock out his opponent. I LIKE that; I like that a LOT. It’s a good feeling to stand up and fight in a cause that affects so very many people. I hope a lot of you will stand…walk…remember, help with the fight, and come join in the celebration….with me.
Terri Frazier Orr
April 13, 2011
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| Click here to donate to Relay for Life of Whitfield County |
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