It unites communities across the globe to celebrate people who have battled cancer, to remember loved ones lost and to take action to finish the fight once and for all.
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Over 350 participants are getting ready to run or walk around the track set in Carlsbad, along with many other events to take place the entire day to support the fight against the disease.
Thanks to money raised for research, cancer death rates have seen a 22% decrease within the last two decades. The relay will be held at McEneaney Field at O’Gorman High School in Sioux Falls.
“(There’s) just a sense of camaraderie and support, and there’s a spiritual component I think to it”, said Truckee resident Pat Callahan, a Truckee-Tahoe Relay planning committee member and cancer survivor.
“That’s why we do it all night and overnight, because cancer doesn’t sleep”, Relay for Life chairperson Judy Donovan said. Our Luminaria Ceremony showed the community’s warmth and strength in honoring for those who are no longer with us.
Event leader Michelle Brown called the 2015 Relay humbling and well worth all the time and effort that went into planning it.
Among the hundreds of participants was Julie Donley of Greenfield.
Then life threw her a curveball. Those dollars raised are going to make a huge difference in the fight against cancer.
“Kind of the goal of Relay with the research and the advancements…is that no one ever has to hear the words: ‘You have cancer, ‘” Geresy said.
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“People’s lives depend on our success, and we take our job to heart”, Brown said. “We couldn’t put this event together without that support”.
