Staff Writer
The next time you get upset because you have to wait in line for your morning coffee, or you’re having a bad hair day — just stop — stop feeling sorry for yourself. Think how you would feel if you heard the words, “you have cancer.” During the recent American Cancer Society’s 15 annual Relay for Life, anyone who witnessed even a small part of the fund-raiser event and ceremonies had to come away humbled.
Aroostook Republican photo/Barb ScottSurvivors and caregivers take their Relay for Life lap.
The first year, the relay walk for cancer saw just a few individuals who had solicited pledge money, walking inside the Aroostook Centre Mall; then as interest grew the event was moved to UMPI; then to NMCC and this year to the outside track at CHS. This year 60 teams, each with a maximum of 15 members, raised $123,000 to help fight back against cancer.
It was a perfect day, full of sunshine and comfortable temperatures, as team members began arriving at the high school. It didn’t take long before tents were set up outside the track area, electrical hook ups were available and an almost festival atmosphere was created, complete with vendors (team members) selling a variety of raffle tickets again all benefiting the 24-hour Aroostook County Relay for Life.
With the aroma of barbecued hotdogs and burgers and all the fixings, provided by The Aroostook Medical Center, relay team members, cancer survivors and community members lined up for a quick bite to eat before the ceremonies officially began.
As the late afternoon sun continued to shine, the infield became a sea of purple and white T-shirts and balloons but it was the easy conversation and the laughter that caught ones’ attention — laughter in the face of cancer. With organizers calling everyone to the staged area, cancer survivors lined up to take their well-earned lap around the quarter-mile track.
These strong individuals, each with their own story, similar in many ways to that of others, each specific unto themselves, had won the fight against their cancer and were there, in the midst of raising money, to help continue that fight — to find a cure.
The Survivors Lap was amazing in itself but to hear the strong voices announce their name and state how long they have been survivors was nothing short of heart-stopping. From the one who had been cancer-free for 36 years to the young woman who was celebrating 1 month, each voice carried the tone of celebration and defiance.
As the survivors made their way around the track they were met by their caregivers, another group of extraordinary individuals who put their own lives on hold in order to help their family member or friend endure the physical and mental brutality of cancer.
When the survivor lap was completed the individual teams were lined up and announced as they made their way around the track. The rules of the Relay for Life event state that at least one team member must be on the track at all times during the 24-hour period. This was not considered a hardship as team members, danced, walked and jogged to the sounds of ever-changing music that played all night long.
At 9 p.m. the Luminary Ceremony began. It was at this point in the event that 1,500 small white bags containing votive candles which lined the entire track were lit. Each of these illuminated bags had been purchased by family members or friends of a loved one who had not won their fight against cancer. Everyone on the track, walkers, survivors, friends, supporters and guests observed a moment of silence in memory of those who had not won their battle.
In the past the names of those who had been taken by this dreadful disease had been read aloud during this point in the event but this year because of the high number, the names were visible on a digital screen that ran continuously for the next hour.
During the Luminary Ceremony, Lisa LeDuc of Presque Isle, who is a cancer survivor, informed those present that the 9 p.m. time wasn’t coincidental. It was explained that sundown was comparable to when someone first hears the words, “you have cancer,” from there the analogy continues, through the evening hours, when a cancer patients believes there is no hope; the darkest hours being the time undergoing treatments accompanied by nausea and hair loss; the early morning hours are said to be like the end of the treatment when the sick feeling subsides and with the sunrise, the knowledge that one is feeling stronger and the cancer has been forced back.
Throughout the night during the Relay for Life, a number of events were scheduled for the walkers including a lesson in fighting back and prevention which featuring a three-round boxing match starring cancer survivor Kaye Judkins (of the Whoopers team) who promised to beat the whoopee out of cancer and Zumba dancing from 2 to 3 .m.
Two members of the Aroostook County Relay for Life event, sisters Julie Tucci and Karin Howe (a three year plus cancer survivor herself ) both agreed that publicity of this even is very important The two also stated that the Aroostook County is the fastest growing one in the state.
Howe and Tucci speaking for the other committee members offered their thanks to the many individuals and organizations who actively supported this event again this year including the following: Cary Medical Center who provided a Survivor Reception on Friday following the Survivor Lap as well as breakfast on Saturday morning; Larry Plourde, custodian at the Caribou High School, who stayed all night during the event; members of the CERT team under the direction of Roy Woods; Caribou Parks and Recreation for creating activities for the younger kids; and the Caribou Fire and Police Departments to mention only some of those who unselfishly donated their time and energy toward the success of this event.
Other participants included Rev. Daniel Clayborne of the New Sweden Covenant Church, the Loring Job Corps Color Guard and Mary Kate Barbosa, Caribou city councilwoman who read the city’s Relay for Life Proclamation at the beginning of the ceremonies.
“I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere of a shared experience between everyone there,” stated cancer survivor and local businessman Kevin Simmons, “the energy level of so many people in one place was huge. So many new faces, so many new stories to tell, so many new reason to Relay. This was the big city Relay in Aroostook County and it is obvious that the communities of Aroostook County are ready to step up, celebrate, remember and fight back,” he said.
Again, most of us are guilty of looking for a little tea and sympathy when things don’t go our way; we tend to feel put-upon for even the slightest little thing, but the realization of even a little bit of what cancer patients and their families go through should be a totally deafening wake-up call.
If you wish to believe that cancer is something that happens to someone else, next year make a point to attend the Relay for Life event which will take place at the same place on June 3 and 4, 2011. Listen to the stories that are told, look at the faces of those survivors, see first hand the four-year-old boy, a survivor but one who will be making the trip to Bangor every month for treatment for the next three years.
For more information or to donate to the Aroostook County Relay for Life go to www.relayforlife.org/aroostookme.
