Rowdy for Relay
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on April 24, 2015 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Carolyn Newsome cheers after winning a raffle prize at the Relay for Life Survivors Banquet Thursday night at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. Ms. Newsome is a 15-year survivor of breast cancer and has been attending the banquet for as long as she can remember.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Phyllis Parrish points out a raffle winner to Chase Hooker, 4, who was helping her pass out prizes at the annual Relay for Life Survivors Banquet. Chase, 4, was diagnosed with leukemia at the end of last year. Mrs. Parrish works with his mother, Amy.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Michael Freeman hugs his mother, Tanya Blount, at the Relay for Life Survivors Banquet on Thursday night after volunteering to speak about how important caretakers are in the life of a survivor. Ms. Blount was diagnosed with ovarian cancer 22 years ago and foot cancer three months ago.
Chase Hooker had a special job at Thursday night's Relay for Life Survivors Banquet.
He got to pass out the prizes, with a little help from some friends.
But he was not just the cute volunteer plucked from the audience.
He is one of the warriors.
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Chase has a scary vocabulary for a 4-year-old.
It includes words like "chemo" and "leukemia."
His illness started as a double ear infection, his dad, Jerimee Hooker, remembers.
Then Chase kept getting fevers and complaining his legs hurt.
On Dec. 27, Chase was diagnosed with leukemia.
"We were devastated," Jerimee says. "It is hard to cope with."
Since then, Chase has been in and out of the hospital receiving chemotherapy.
He will receive treatment for the next three years. He is still in the induction phase.
Jerimee credits the support system at First Pentecostal Holiness Church for helping his family through this journey.
"There has been a lot of praying," he said.
He and Chase sported matching #Fight4Chase shirts at the banquet.
Even though he was the youngest survivor in the room, cancer does not define Chase.
He likes baking, especially with chocolate. He likes the Ninja Turtles and to play with all of his toys.
He does not remember this Christmas as the year he got cancer.
"I got a kitty for Christmas," he proudly says.
And, Thursday, he was the youngest in a room full of cancer survivors, caregivers and supporters -- all united to celebrate their victories, to share their battle stories and to support one another.
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Kem Lancaster's outlandish top hat has a big purple bow and a tiara. It turns heads when she wears it.
She made it herself -- it was originally used as part of a Mad Hatter costume, but now she wears it as a statement.
She is the pastor at the Heart of David Ministries in Eureka.
She is a mom, a wife and a survivor.
In January 2008, Kem was diagnosed with stage T-4 rectal cancer.
The American Cancer Society listed her odds of five-year survival at 5 percent.
"It was a long journey," she says. "I've been very blessed."
At the banquet, Kem was one of the many faces of survivors in the crowd.
She boldly stands out, a seven-year survivor -- a Mad Hatter.
She wants to create awareness of cancer, and will use Wayne County Relay for Life on May 15-16 at the Wayne Agricultural Fairgrounds as her platform.
"Without Relay, I wouldn't be here," she says.
Kem received a trial drug that was not approved for her type of cancer.
Relay for Life provides money for research and advances in treatment for cancers.
She has gotten her church youth groups involved in Relay for Life, including the Palms of Praise dance group, which performed at the survivor celebration.
"I'm able to watch my kids grow up," she says.
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Cancer is always in the back of Betsy Mozingo's mind.
She still worries it will make a resurgence in her daughter, Amanda McMurray.
Amanda is a 27-year survivor, but her mother will always worry.
She was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 6.
Betsy was told her daughter would not see high school graduation.
Instead, she saw Amanda get her master's degree. She saw her walk down the aisle last year when she got married.
But she still worries.
Mother and daughter have been coming to the survivors' banquet for 11 years.
Amanda got involved with Relay for Life while she was attending East Carolina University.
"I wasn't aware Wayne County had one," she said.
The mother-daughter team credits Relay for Life for funding large advances in cancer treatments. Since Amanda was diagnosed, the survival rate has increased almost 30 percent.
"This is the one charity I love being involved with," Amanda said.
Her favorite part of the event is the survivors' lap, joining her counterparts and taking the lap on the track as people cheer them on.
For her mother, it is a solemn reminder.
"I think about the ones she went through this with, that aren't here anymore."
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Irene Thornton is going to live forever.
"I want to worry the hell out of my kids like they did to me," she laughs.
She has four children and 10 grandchildren, and is excited to give them a hard time for a long time to come.
Her journey started when she was 70 years old and overweight. After undergoing gastric bypass surgery, she noticed something was wrong.
It was only three months after her annual mammogram, but Irene asked her doctor if discharge could be related to her rapid weight loss.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer.
"Cancer is a scary word for everybody," she says.
Irene lost her mother and aunt to cancer. She did not want to mess around.
She got a double mastectomy as soon as she could. She followed that with radiation.
She went through her treatment very quietly.
"Nobody needed to know," she says.
She is a three-year survivor.
"I count those years," she says. "I'm not worried."
She is an adamant supporter of Wayne County Relay for Life.
"This is a lifesaving thing for people," she says. "More people need to be involved."