Celebration kicks off NK’s Relay For Life campaign
Life for five-year-olds Emma Hall and Savannah Reid and seven-year-old Jasper Packard has been anything but kids’ play. At age four, all were diagnosed with cancer — Emma and Savannah with Stage 4 Wilm’s Tumor and Jasper with leukemia.
Today, the three youngsters stand as living proof cancer can be beaten. All have been declared cancer-free and were the center of attention at the March 21 New Kent Relay For Life kickoff held at Colonial Downs.
Sporting wide grins, Emma, Savannah, and Jasper proudly displayed medals awarded them for their monumental accomplishment. And expect to see them May 30 on the New Kent High School track, taking part in this year’s Relay For Life survivor walk.
The three kids personify what Relay For Life is all about. As event chairman Mark Moker put it, the event is so much more than just a cancer walk, fundraiser, and huge party.
Well over 100 people attended the kickoff event, which is designed to bolster enthusiasm for surpassing last year’s Relay money-raising effort that brought in almost $92,000.
“I think the best way to describe what Relay For Life is… one community, or in our case several small communities, coming together for one day and one night to celebrate side by side with those that have battled cancer, remember those we have lost to cancer, and fight back against a disease that has touched everyone’s lives in one way or another,” Moker told the crowd.
Anyone, any age can participate, he said. Teams range from five to 75 people with the requirement that at least one team member is walking the track at all times.
The upcoming event starts with a second annual coed softball tournament on the morning of May 30. Volunteers spend the morning setting up campsites around the track, and festivities get under way with a survivors’ reception and lunch. Kids activities start just after noon.
Opening ceremonies take place at 2 p.m. followed by the survivors’ walk. Survivors have the honor of taking the first lap around the track. For the rest of the day, live music permeates the air and participants are afforded games and great food.
After nightfall, the luminaria celebration takes place. Candles inside paper bags placed around the track are lighted in honor of those who have battled the disease. A spiritual power hour of gospel music follows, and at midnight, teens take over activities with “midnight madness.” The event continues into Sunday morning.
Relay had its beginnings in 1985 when a physician in Tacoma, Wash. vowed to run around a high school track for 24 hours to raise money for cancer research. With the community’s help, the doctor raised $27,000. This year, Relay celebrates its 25th anniversary.
“Cancer never sleeps, and for one night, neither will we,” Katie Bell, an American Cancer Society representative told the crowd. “Relay is the American Cancer Society’s biggest fundraiser and our signature event.”
Close to 1.4 million Americans will be diagnosed with some form of cancer this year, creating $22 billion in health care costs, she said.
“We’re dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem,” she added.
“We’re going to win this fight,” Moker said. “They used to say you may see a cure for cancer in your lifetime. Now if you talk to doctors and researchers at places like VCU’s Massey Cancer Center, they say they are getting closer every