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Health & Fitness

What Relay For Life is All About

In the past, I've shared my story as one of my dad's caregivers as he battled brain cancer. This time, I want to share the story of Relay For Life.

Tomorrow, Friday, July 13, is "Cancer's Unlucky Day." That is the theme for this year's Relay For Life of Central St. Charles, a 12-hour overnight fundraising event to benefit the American Cancer Society. It will be the second Relay event I've participated in, but the first one without my dad.

Some of you may remember one of my first Patch blog posts last year, "." If you want to know the background of my story as a caregiver for a loved one with cancer, or if you want to know some basic information about Relay For Life, I suggest reading that post.

I also did a wrap-up blog post about last year's Relay For Life, on my other blog for St. Charles Community College. That's a good one to check out, too. 

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But I'm not here to tell you about my story. I'm here to share the story of Relay, and what it means to me and my 30 team members, who happen to be my closest family and friends.

As it says in the title of my wrap up blog post, "Relay For Life is an experience I will never forget." If I only knew how true those words would be a year later, now that my dad is no longer with us.

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There is no doubt that this year's Relay is going to be hard for me, and hard for my family and friends. My dad was such a light of hope for us last year, putting on a brave and happy face as he fought the hardest battle of his life, and one that he would eventually lose. My dad stayed for the entire full 12 hours of the event, I was so proud of him. Even though he won't physically be with us this year, I know he will be there in our hearts. 

And as proud of him as I was, I know he was just as proud, if not more proud, of me. In my first Relay event, I managed to raised $1,000+ as an individual and our team, Bobby's Big Shots, raised a total of $5,700 as the second highest fundraising team. I was blown away by the support we received from everyone, including some people I barely even knew. It was amazing.

And now, just one day out from the event, I have surpassed my goal of $1,000 by an extra $700 individually, and my team has raised $5,670, which is pretty close to how much we raised after the event was over last year. Our goal is $6,000 and I know we will reach it. (If you'd like to help us, click here!)

My team will have some awesome fundraisers, which I spent all of last night helping to make, including cancer awareness cookies (they are shaped in awareness ribbons with different colors to represent all the different types of cancers), personalized fans with inspirational quotes, beer bread, cupcakes and more! Everyone is so willing to help. My team has really stepped up to the plate this year with fundraising. I'm so proud of them, and even more grateful that God has surrounded me with such amazing people.

Speaking of amazing people, if you want to be around the strongest, most compassionate people in St. Charles County, then you should come to our Relay event tomorrow night. And when I say "you," I mean, literally, everyone. That's because our Relay is open to the general public, which means you are welcome to come and go as you please from 6-10 p.m.* Friday, July 13, at Lutheran High School in St. Peters (right next to the Rec-Plex). You don't have to sign up or be registered on a team in order to attend our event.

*Technically we will close our gates after the Luminaria Ceremony, which begins at 10 p.m. We ask that if you are planning to stay for the rest of night, get there before 10 p.m., but if you aren't, to leave after the Luminaria Ceremony.

So, what do you do at Relay For Life?

In the past year since I started doing Relay, I've gotten a lot of questions about what we actually do. Most people think all we do is run around a track for 12 hours straight. 

Believe me, if that were the case, I would not be partaking in this event. 

I mean, don't get me wrong, the "relaying" aspect of the event is important, and we do have someone walking (let me put the emphasis on the word walking, not running) on the track at all times, but it's more about the fundraising, and even more than that, Relay is about the camaraderie and support we give each other as we all come together under one passion: beating cancer.

But you're still probably wondering... seriously, what do you do for 12 hours?

LOTS of stuff.

You can find the full activities and entertainment schedule on the Relay For Life of Central St. Charles' Facebook page, but we will have everything from live bands to a washers tournament, a movie, kids activities, a silent auction and more! Plus there will be some fun themed laps and each camp site will have a fundraiser.

I've compared our fundaising booths as something akin to an arts and crafts fair, because there is quite an array of items to purchase. From pizza to baked goods, and from jewlery to games, there is certainly something for everyone! 

So if you are looking for something to do tomorrow (Friday) night, and have some extra cash you feel like donating to a good cause, come up to Relay For Life of Central St. Charles at Lutheran High School and buy some cool stuff!

One event I recommend everyone attending for sure is the Luminara Ceremony, which is set for 10 p.m. tomorrow night. This is the most moving and emotional part of Relay. We light up white bags that have the names of loved ones who have lost their battle cancer, are still fighting it, or have survived it, all around the track. (You can purchase individual Luminaria bags to dedicate to someone for just $5, either online or at the event.)

I will be the speaker and I plan on telling my story as a caregiver for my dad as he battled cancer. Then there will be one silent lap around the track, where we will remember all those who have lost their lives to cancer. It's a very sombering and powerful sight, but something I think everyone should experience, especially if you or someone you know has been affected by cancer. 

While the Luminara Ceremony is more focused on remembering those we've lost to cancer, the opening ceremonies, which begin at 6 p.m., are focused on celebrating our survivors. During the ceremony, we ask each survivor to state their name, their cancer and how long they have been a survivor, then we kick off Relay with a survivors lap, followed by a caregivers lap. This is also one of my favorite parts of Relay, as it gives us all inspiration as we face the next 12 hours in the outdoors, in the heat, fighting back against our one common enemy: cancer.

Because cancer never sleeps, neither will we. 

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