To the editor:
For the last few weeks there have been editorials that have painted the American Cancer Society/Relay For Life in a bad light. Everyone is allowed their own opinions. Now I would like to express my opinion to the recent happenings.
My mother fought for six years with her battle with cancer. When she first was diagnosed, the doctors only gave her a few months to live. But with the research that was going on at the time, her life was extended for six years. This was in part to the American Cancer Society, which I thank them every day to be able to give me the extra time with her. In those years she was able to see her son get married, the birth of her granddaughter, and educate others about her disease and fight to find a cure someday.
Mom knew a cure was not going to happen in her lifetime, but she wanted to make sure that in the future when the time came that no one would suffer as she did. This is why I Relay. Relay For Life was so dear to her and I want to keep her memory alive and keep her fight going, as well as others who lost their battles because of passing on. I have hope that maybe in my life time, we can find a cure.
I am not against the group C.A.N.C.E.R. and have never said a bad word about them. But I’m very disappointed on the recent actions that have happened in our local paper with articles/editorials that have been written to put the American Cancer Society down. I have donated money to many people for many years for Planet Head Day and other events that C.A.N.C.E.R. has going on in Aroostook County; even though the C.A.N.C.E.R. group never helped my mother, other family members, or even friends who are currently battling cancer.
I believe that both groups in Aroostook County can work together. In the long run we are working for the same thing. Yes, C.A.N.C.E.R. helps selected people locally, but the American Cancer Society is also helping people locally in many ways, but their main goal is more on a national scale so they can try to find a cure to this terrible disease that has taken so many of our loved ones.
Cancer is hard in and of itself to battle. We all should not be battling against each other, but work together so we can have a cancer free world.
Laurie Boucher
Chapman
