2017 Relay for Life kicks off
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on January 20, 2017 8:26 AM
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Sam Lane speaks about surviving a rare form of head and neck cancer during the Relay for Life Kickoff Banquet Thursday evening at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. Having under gone three surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, Lane said he still has trouble with speech and swallowing, but is grateful to be alive.
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Honorary Chair Cece Thorton shows a picture of herself from late 2014 when she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer, during the Relay for Life Kickoff Banquet Thursday evening at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. Thornton explained that she is cancer-free after receiving the results of a recent mammogram. Also pictured is Paula Cox dressed as the Mad Hatter.
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Melba Uzzell, left, speaks with Paula Cox during the Relay for Life Kickoff Banquet Thursday evening at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. Uzzell is a memeber of the Best Grove Visions of Hope Team, an organization that works to raise money for Relay for Life, which will be taking place May 19 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds.
CeCe Thornton held up a photograph taken the day she was out with friends and removed the "beanie" that adorned her head throughout chemo and subsequent loss of her hair after being diagnosed with breast cancer in Sept. 2014.
She didn't need a picture to conjure up the feelings, though.
They have left an indelible mark on her heart.
"I have been with and around cancer survivors for 16 years," she said, as a volunteer with Relay for Life.
When it happened to her, though, it was a different story.
Readily there in support of others, she admitted it wasn't always easy to be strong for herself -- "I cried and cried behind closed doors," she said.
"I had good days and bad days," she told the audience at the 2017 Relay for Life kickoff Thursday night at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. "What got me through all of this was God, family, friends and my Relay family."
The 42-year-old mother of three is one of the honorary co-chairmen for this year's event, which will be held May 19 at the fairgrounds.
The other is Tina Woodard, a two-time cancer survivor -- kidney cancer in 2011 and most recently Stage 3 rectal cancer.
The kickoff drew a sparse crowd. Fewer than 70 showed up for the event which garnered state and national awards over the years since being introduced in Wayne County in 1994.
Several commented on the dwindling numbers, encouraging those in the audience to remember the ultimate purpose of Relay remains -- research.
"We're still here. We're still doing what we've always done. We're raising money for cancer research," said Brenda Robinson, community manager for Relay for Life in Wayne County. "On June 29, the federal government and the American Cancer Society held a Moonshot Summit in Washington, D.C. at Howard University and they collaboratively agreed to donate double the money for cancer research over the next five years. We need the people to support us so we can make that money.
"Cancer research, if you stop supporting it now, we're going to go backwards because cancer isn't stopping. To me, it's in the food we eat, the air we breathe and if we stop, we don't stand a chance."
With advances being made in the field, there are more and better treatments out there and more survivors, something she said she doesn't want to see stop.
"I have done this for 17 years as a volunteer before I started working (for the American Cancer Society)," she said. "We need teams, people on our ELT (event leadership team). Most of all we need the community's support.
"They can help us raise money, come out and help at the event to set up, volunteer. We've got so many places that they can volunteer, depending on how involved they want to get."
With many different types of cancer, she said there is no longer the need for "one cure," but several kinds of cures.
"Lots of people are surviving cancer now that didn't before and it's because of research," she said.
Paula Cox, people lead for the event, said North Carolina is fortunate to have several research-based universities, including Duke, UNC-Chapel Hill, Wake Forest and East Carolina.
"Every state does not have the level of research that we have," she said. "In 2016 the American Cancer Society granted $20 million in research grants for North Carolina, for those universities."
Guest speaker for the evening was Sam Lane, diagnosed three years ago with head and neck cancer. He underwent three surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation.
He kept his remarks brief, telling the audience he still had struggles with speech and swallowing, but was told two years ago he is cancer-free.
"Most recently, like three weeks ago, the surgeon felt so confident that I was cancer-free and would probably stay that way, that they actually removed the portacath," he said.
One of the things that surprised him most about his own cancer journey has been the outpouring of support from the community.
"I have been overwhelmed at the amount of people that have been praying for me," he said, also crediting his wife in her role as caregiver. "Judy has put up with a lot. She has stuck with me.
"That has been a real blessing. She has been by my side the whole time."
This year's event will still boast the survivor's walk, starting at 6:30 p.m., and a kids walk, at a time to be determined, holding it Friday evening instead of the traditional Saturday morning.
"This year instead of going all night -- in the past we have always gone 24 hours -- we're going to cut it off, maybe around 1 or 2 a.m.," Mrs. Robinson said.
In addition to anticipated fundraisers and events in the upcoming months, one of which will be held April 15 at Waynesborough Park. "Bark for Life of Wayne County" will be a non-competitive walk for dogs and their humans, said Nancy Autry, organizer.