Flat Richard at the Relay For Life of Tacoma

This weekend my wife is at the 30th Anniversary Celebration of Relay For Life held in Tacoma, Washington - The birthplace of Relay For Life.   She is a member of Team Relay Nation, which is made up of Heroes of Hope from across the United States and the world.  As a Hero of Hope she has spoken all across the state of Arkansas including the steps of the Capitol in Little Rock.  (You can hear her speech at the Capitol here.)

Although I really wanted to be able to experience the Relay Celebration in Tacoma our finances made it impossible.  I was feeling sorry for myself, but was cheered up when my wife took me to the Relay in 2D form.

Apparently Flat Richard made lots of friends at Relay.  He had his picture taken with Shannon. She lost her battle with cancer on Memorial Day 2014. She had already signed up for the last lap. She made that lap with the help of her friends.  These guys walked 14 miles from the coast carrying her to Relay.  Now that's the Relay spirit!

Flat Richard also made friends with a dance team of little girls from the Samoa Team who danced at Relay For Life.

He enjoyed getting to spend time with family.

It was awesome to get to experience one of the largest Relays ever at the birthplace of Relay.

I was able to actually experience some of the Relay because they had a live internet feed.  I was able to see Flat Richard circle the track, and see him with Team Relay Nation.

Flat Richard experienced this 24 hour Relay and was on the track for the final lap.

Flat Richard was at Relay the whole time. Always wanting to be helpful, he even helped get the last wagon load of stuff to the car.

The Relay For Life of Tacoma was very successful, raising over 530,000 dollars.  If you aren't involved in Relay For Life, find a Relay near you and get involved.  There are over 5,200 Relays in the U.S and over 600 Relay For Life events to support cancer organizations in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, The Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Portugal, South Africa, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.  To find a Relay For Life event near you click here.

Regina Lawry - Polk County Pulse January 15, 2014

Article published in the January 15, 2014 issue of The Polk County Pulse featuring my wife as the Citizen of the Week.  Written by Jaclyn Rose.

Regina Lawry was born in Denver, Colorado and lived in the same house until she was married.  In grade school she attended Denver Public Schools.  Upon entering high school, Regina transferred to a private Christian boarding school in Loveland, Co, called Campion Academy.  It was there that Regina met her husband and made lifelong friends that she still stays in touch with to this day.  “My father wasn't a rich man, he worked hard as a tile layer and took on extra jobs so he could allow my siblings and I to attend this great school.  It was the most wonderful experience of my life.”

Regina and her husband of 38 years, Richard, or Richie, as he is known by his friends, became friends while in American History class and were assigned to work together on a project.  “Richie was painfully shy but we became great friends and after high school we didn't want that friendship to end.  We started dating and then got married.  The key is to just be best friends.  As life goes on the romance sometimes fades so you have to enjoy being together.”

Regina and her husband have two children, Cynda and Gavin, and family is of extreme importance to them.  “Family has always come first.  When Cynda was little, Richie commuted 50 miles each way to work, so he left before she woke up in the mornings and was home after she was in bed. He came to me at that time and said he wanted to move to Arkansas, where his parents were living.  In two weeks we sold the house and moved to Mena.  It was culture shock to me.  I am such a city girl but Polk County has been so good to us.  We love it here, we love the people.  We are active members of Mena Seventh Day Adventist Church, where Richie is the head elder.”

Regina is now a grandmother to three sweet granddaughters which is a role she cherishes.  “My granddaughters: Autumn, Rebekah and Elisabeth are the light of my life.  I was born to be a grandma.  I waited my whole life for it, I just didn't know it.  I tell my oldest granddaughter that I was so full of joy when she was born that it just kept running out of my eyes,” Regina said with a grin.

Regina ran a fabric shop in Mena for a while before closing it to homeschool her son.  When he left to attend boarding school in Gentry, Arkansas, she decided to go back to work and began working at the USEM Mena Federal Credit Union.  “I’m the CEO and the Janitor.  I love my job.  I love the people.”

In 1975 Regina’s mother was diagnosed with Leukemia and began treatments, which at that time consisted of blood transfusions because no other treatment was available.  Regina’s mother was approached to do a study on the progression of the disease in the bone marrow.  Her family discouraged her from participating, knowing it would likely not help and would cause a great deal of pain.  She insisted on the study, however, and her reason behind it has given Regina her passion in life.  “We tried to talk mom out of the study and her response was, ‘you never know who this will help along the line.’  Twenty years later those studies saved my sister’s life and gave her an additional fifteen years to live.”  Cancer is a disease that has not only affected Regina’s mother and sister, but every member of her immediate family has been diagnosed with some form.  Because of her desire for a cure, Regina has worked tirelessly for the cause through the Relay for Life program.  She was chairperson for the local chapter for five years, has served on the State Leadership Council and is a Hero of Hope for the Mid-South Division.  It is truly her life’s desire to find a cure.  “I've seen firsthand the work the American Cancer Society has done and how it has helped my family.  It may not seem like [cancer] has anything to do with you, it doesn't affect you until it affects you.  But you never know who you are going to help.  If my children or grandchildren are ever diagnosed I don’t want it to be like it was for my mother.  I want there to be a cure.”

Regina Lawry - Hero of Hope

In the fall of 2011 my wife, Regina, was chosen to represent the American Cancer Society as the Mid-South Division's first Hero of Hope in the caregiver category.  This is the speech that she has given in over 15 locations during the past year including the steps of the State Capitol.

I’m Regina Lawry, from Mena, Arkansas.  I’m a caregiver and I’m 1 out of 7.

I’m the only one in my immediate family that has never had a cancer diagnosis.

When I was a little girl in the early 60’s I went out collecting money for ACS with my mother.  At that time the ACS would send out envelopes and ask people to take them around their neighborhoods.  I can remember asking her why we were doing it and she would tell me, “You never know who it might help.”

In 1975 she was diagnosed with leukemia.  In the 70’s leukemia was a death sentence.  There was no treatment. 

She would get so weak.  I remember her coming to my house one day and she was too weak to even open the screen door.  It was as if mom’s blood would just disappear.  

At that time the only thing they could do for her was to give her platelets or whole blood.  They were giving her several units of whole blood and or platelet every week. 

It was the ACS that developed apheresis (the technology to separate the platelets from the whole blood).  This technology is used in many other medical applications also.       

At that time the family was responsible for replacing the blood that was used for her.  We all donated and were always scrambling to find other donors.  The Local ACS office donated over 100 units in her name.  I’m not saying that this is a service that is provided by ACS.  It’s just how much they care.

The doctors decided to remove her spleen and hopefully stop the loss of blood.  While she was in the hospital they asked her to participate in a bone marrow study.  They were studying the progression of the disease.  She was told that it would not benefit her, but would hopefully help others later on. 

They told her that it was painful.  It was done with a local and they had to drill into the hip bone and remove the marrow.  We tried to talk her out of it, but she insisted that she would do it.  She said, “You never know who this might help.”  In December of 1976 she lost her battle with cancer.

In the summer of 1996 (20 years later) a bone marrow transplant saved my sister Lenora’s life.  In February of that year she was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer. 

I took care of her 6 weeks during her transplant.  It was the hardest thing I have ever done.  As a caregiver you are completely exhausted all of the time and you are watching someone you love go through something so difficult. My brother Duane was her stem cell donor.

ACS is still funding platelet and stem cell research.  The ACS does NOT fund embryonic stem cell research.  I repeat the ACS does NOT fund embryonic stem cell research.  That was important to me.

A few years later my sister Roberta was diagnosed with bi-lateral breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy along with chemotherapy.  She is still cancer free. 

Not long afterwards my sister Bunny was diagnosed with breast cancer and chose to have a double mastectomy.  It was caught early and no further treatments were required. 

After Roberta’s treatments and recovery she became involved in Relay for Life in Enumclaw, Washington.  She invited all of us to come to Enumclaw and support her in the Relay.  We all went, because that’s the kind of family we are and we wanted to help her through her healing process.

I cannot tell you what it meant to me when I watched my siblings walk arm and arm around that track in the survivor lap.  Then when I saw my mother and my father’s luminary bags during the luminary ceremony I knew it was something that I had to be a part of. 

I returned to Enumclaw for a few years for Relay.  Then one day I got a luminary form in my bank statement.  They were having a Relay in Polk County.  I called the number on the form, signed up a team, raised $7000 and have been the chairman of the Polk County Relay for 5 years. 

Not too long ago on Facebook I saw that my cousin Michael was diagnosed with leukemia and was getting ready to undergo a bone marrow transplant.  I called him and we talked about my mother and what she had done.  We cried and we laughed.  36 years later bone marrow and stem cell research is still saving lives. 

The money that is raised helps long term.  We may not see the results today but ACS researchers save thousands and thousands of lives.  I know, because I’ve seen it first hand through things like Blood apheresis, bone marrow studies, stem cell research and various drugs and chemotherapies. 

So why do I Relay?  It’s my legacy.  I want my grand-children to know what my mother did for love.  She would have endured it all for a stranger, but ended up doing it for those she loved.  I want there to be treatments if they ever need them. 

I’m Regina Lawry and I Relay BIG in Polk County, Arkansas.