News-Argus/Kaye Nesbit

Mary Roberts, a one-year cancer survivor, signs the Wall of Hope at Southeastern Medical Oncology Center. The wall represents how far cancer research has come, and the opportunities that research has provided patients to live and have a better chance at fighting the disease. The Wall of Hope will be taken to the Celebration on the Hill Sept. 19 and 20 in Washington, D.C. Wayne County residents are busy this week preparing for the county's annual Relay for Life, which last year raised more than $580,000 for cancer research.