Wayne Memorial Hospital honored for Relay for Life
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on November 2, 2005 1:49 PM
Although the annual Relay for Life is still six months away, people from several counties gathered in Goldsboro on Tuesday night to share ideas in preparation for next year's event.
An American Cancer Society Relay rally was held at Wayne Memorial Hospital. During the rally, the hospital received an award for being one of the top three money-raising teams in the nation for last year's Relay for Life. The hospital team raised $68,250. The team also received an award from the local Cancer Society for raising the most money in Wayne County.
The entire event raised over half a million dollars for cancer research.
The 2006 Relay for Life will be held in early May.
On Tuesday, the hospital relay team received a huge purple banner stating that it is among the top teams in the nation for the Relay and pins for individual members.
The speaker for the rally was local Cancer Society volunteer Goldie Smith. She is also a cancer survivor.
Smith described to the audience the trauma she went throug when she was diagnosed with cancer in 1990.
Ms. Smith began volunteering with the American Cancer Society in 1993.
"I have motivation to fight for a cure for cancer," she said. "I say to cancer survivors that we all are victorious."
During the rally, Regional Development Director Liz Davey praised the volunteers saying what inspires her is all of them. "It's what you do and the difference you make," she said.
"I'm in awe year after year by the amount raised by you in this room. You make an amazing difference in people's lives."
Davey described her work with a cancer volunteer who had breast cancer three times. "She was dedicated to the Relay For Life. She fought long and hard, but lost her battle the third time."
But Davey said that the volunteer got an extra year of life because of a new drug for breast cancer patients that was developed by a researcher who had received an American Cancer Society grant.