I\u2019m a cancer survivor. It\u2019s been 11 years since doctors discovered my brain tumor; 10 since I finished radiation and chemotherapy; one since I received my last required MRI. But it wasn\u2019t until Saturday night that I finally celebrated defeating cancer.<\/p>\n
And I wasn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n
An estimated 700 people on 44 teams celebrated cancer survivorship Saturday night and Sunday morning during the 2008 Renton Relay For Life at Renton Memorial Stadium. Through donations, an initial $103,000 was raised for the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n
Donations are accepted until August, but Renton co-chair Nancy Knowles says that initial figure is the most Renton has ever raised on Relay day. Renton Relay For Life started about 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
Last weekend\u2019s party started 6 p.m. Saturday with a presentation of the Colors and the National Anthem, and ended at 10 a.m. Sunday with closing ceremonies. In between was music, Twister, football, frisbee, soccer, raffles, a pajama lap, a dance-off and more. Plus walking and running. Each relay team continuously circled the track throughout the overnight event.<\/p>\n
But there were also somber moments. At 10 p.m. the stadium went dark, save for the candlelit white paper bags circling the track. Each bag was named for someone who is living with or was lost to cancer. Each name was read as participants circled the track.<\/p>\n
After all, cancer isn\u2019t always about surviving. Many lose the battle. As co-chair Jackie Judd said to Saturday\u2019s crowd, Relay For Life has three purposes: to celebrate those who have battled cancer and won, to remember those who have battled cancer and lost and to fight back against the cell-mutating disease.<\/p>\n
There was plenty of fighting back at Renton Memorial Stadium last weekend.<\/p>\n
After the national anthem, I joined the crowd of survivors on the track. We each wore a purple baseball cap and purple shirt with \u201cSURVIVOR\u201d printed across the back.<\/p>\n
We were all different. A woman with a baby in a stroller, an older man sporting a U.S. flag cap, a young woman in a wheelchair, a woman with round sunglasses, a headband and a peace sign necklace, a pale young man with a smooth, bald head.<\/p>\n
But when \u201cI Will Survive\u201d came over the sound system, we were united. Many of us clapped and danced. Then we walked. Just one lap around the track. But it was powerful.<\/p>\n
White-shirted people circled the infield, facing us. They clapped and cheered, shook maracas and slapped our hands.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve spent much of the past 11 years pretending I never had cancer. During treatment I hid beneath surliness and wool hats. I was 14. I didn\u2019t start talking about my cancer years until college. Years later, and the memories still brought tears.<\/p>\n
But Saturday\u2019s crowd made me proud to acknowledge my cancerous past. I held out my hand to the circle of supporters. I smiled.<\/p>\n
When the woman next to me asked how long I\u2019d been a survivor I proudly replied: \u201c10 years.\u201d She had two.<\/p>\n
Others, like the young bald man, are still fighting. His name is Gary Hrenchir, he\u2019s 36 and a computer programmer. He has testicular cancer. He was diagnosed in 2006, and just finished stem-cell replacement. Surgery may be next. It\u2019s his second year participating in Relay For Life. It\u2019s a good cause, he says.<\/p>\n
Has treatment been difficult?<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of it has,\u201d he says, \u201clike hospital stays.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jerri Wood is another cancer survivor who isn\u2019t out of the woods yet. Wood, 55, has spent five years with a brain tumor. A tumor in between benign and malignant. It\u2019s fine as long as it doesn\u2019t grow. She\u2019s had a couple treatments to reduce the tumor, and annual MRIs.<\/p>\n
Like many at Saturday\u2019s relay, Wood has many cancer connections. Her father died from lung cancer. Her mother is a five-year breast cancer survivor.<\/p>\n
Saturday was Wood\u2019s second Relay For Life. She also battles cancer through her PTA, labor union and the Lance Armstrong Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a community effort,\u201d she says. \u201cNobody gets through this alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Relay For Life is a good way to fight back, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like pay it back and pay it forward. This is one of those rare opportunities where you get to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wood\u2019s son Justin was also walking Saturday \u2014 as part of a team from Hazen High School.<\/p>\n
Lindbergh and Renton high schools also had teams, as did Valley Medical Center, Group Health and other organizations.<\/p>\n
Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts also came out \u2014 helping prepare the Luminaria candles.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing turnout,\u201d co-chair Knowles said Saturday night.<\/p>\n
She guessed the turnout was Renton\u2019s biggest yet.<\/p>\n
The first Relay For Life was in Tacoma in 1986. A colorectal surgeon named Dr. Gordy Klatt started the event the year before, in 1985, when he spent 24 hours circling a track. Friends paid to accompany him. He ran\/walked 83 miles and raised $27,000 for the American Cancer Society.<\/p>\n
Participants collected donations before Saturday\u2019s Relay. More funds were raised Saturday.<\/p>\n
Valley Medical Center sold lap necklaces for $1. Buyers got a bead or button strung on a purple cord for each lap. Stands hawked jewelry, scarves and rice crispy treats. Quilts were auctioned, and \u201cCANCER SUCKS\u201d T-shirts were for sale at the information booth.<\/p>\n
There were also free charitable services. Carol Braunschweig cut hair for Locks of Love, a nonprofit that makes wigs for children. Braunschweig is a hairdresser at Center Coiffures in Renton, where she offers Locks of Love service anytime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my prize,\u201d Braunschweig said from her chair in the Survivor\u2019s Tent Saturday. She held up a dark brown braid. \u201cTwenty-four inches,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The Survivor\u2019s Tent was just one of the many tents Saturday. Each team had a tent on the bright green infield. And many more tents for sleeping dotted the field. Many participants stayed the night.<\/p>\n
Four Lindbergh girls were planning on overnighting it. Three said they know people who have or have had cancer. It was the girls\u2019 second Relay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like to support cancer patients,\u201d said junior Marlena Vongphakdy. Her grandpa had cancer.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s event also drew participants from outside Renton. Betty Furuga came from Hawaii to join her daughter Julie Kawasaki. Both women are breast cancer survivors. Betty was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. It was Betty\u2019s sixth or seventh Relay and Julie\u2019s ninth.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s great \u2014 it\u2019s really grown since I first started,\u201d Julie said. There were maybe 23 teams then.<\/p>\n
Betty and Julie were on team Friendstones: Friends for a Cure.<\/p>\n
Bob and Diane Jones also commuted to the Relay. The couple came from Selah, where there isn\u2019t a Relay For Life. Bob lost his stomach to cancer. His small intestine is now connected to his esophagus. Doctors initially gave him three months to live. That was 11 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really good,\u201d Diane said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pat Marcella knows about long hauls. She\u2019s a sonographer at Valley Medical Center\u2019s Breast Center. Her ultrasounds find breast cancer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s one key reason why I feel this is important,\u201d she says. \u201cI see the fear that they show on their faces when they\u2019re diagnosed.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Breast Center sees several hundred breast cancer patients a year. But better detection and care means more survivors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe see more cases, but we\u2019re finding things earlier, so the prognosis is better,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Marcella became a cancer survivor just this month, when about three inches of her left arm was removed. Skin cancer. She\u2019s fine now.<\/p>\n
Cancer survival. Now that\u2019s something to celebrate.<\/p>\n
Emily Garland can be reached at emily.garland@reporternewspapers.com or (425) 255-3484, ext. 5052.<\/p>\n
How to donate<\/b><\/p>\n
Donations to American Cancer Society can be made at http:\/\/www.cancer.org\/docroot\/par\/content\/PAR_1_Relay_For_Life.asp, or by mailing a check to: American Cancer Society on behalf of Relay For Life, 2120 First Ave. N. Seattle, WA 98109.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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