Relay and Rain

The 2014 Relay For Life of Polk County celebration was held May 30th. Because of rain we had to move Relay from our local park to the Christian Motorcycle Association Iron Mountain facilities. The 40,000 square foot facility provide an excellent place to hold an event of this size indoors. 

The event began with a Survivor Lap - our local cancer survivors circling the track while they were cheered on by the crowd.

During the evening each of the fifteen local Relay For Life teams had a booth with food and activities for everyone.  There was entertainment and a talent show.  Each of the teams had at least one walker on the track at all times.  Our team had a jail and the local sheriff deputies arrested people and placed them in the jail.  Of course someone paid to have my wife and I arrested.

Out team theme was Minions Working for a Cure.  We dressed in Yellow Minion T-shirts and Minion goggles.

As it gets dark, the attention of the Relay turns to remembering loved ones lost to cancer and honoring those battling the disease through the luminaria bags lining the track.  Relay For Life participants and donors dedicate the luminaria bags to those who are special to them. As people quietly circle the track, each of the names is read.  They are our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, friends, coworkers, and so many others. 

After the Luminaria Ceremony, the Relay team participants are ready to stay up all night.  Relay For Life events last all night because cancer never sleeps.  Throughout the night each team had at least one participant on the track at all times.  There were many activities to keep everyone entertained through the night, including karaoke, a dance contest, 3 on 3 basketball, line dancing, Zumba and tug of war.

Relay For Life is a community event.  Every person in Polk County who has been touched by cancer benefits from the research funded through the money raised by these dedicated volunteers of Relay For Life of Polk County.  Seeing the community stand together in our fight against cancer at Relay For Life is something special. Over 6,500 dollars was raised at the event bringing the total raised so far this year to over 54,000.00

Luminaria

L is for Luminaria.  Luminaria are paper bags filled with sand and illuminated by a small light or candle.  My wife and I have been involved in the American Cancer Society Relay For Life for a number of years. Each Relay For Life has a Luminaria Ceremony that offers everyone at Relay the opportunity to honor and remember those whose lives have been touched by cancer. Luminaria also raise money for Relay For Life.  The Luminaria are placed around the track and lit as sunset approaches. As night falls it is a beautiful and poignant scene to see all the lit luminaria.



Relay For Life is a passion of ours because of all of the family members and friends who have battled cancer. We decorated a float for a Christmas parade here in Mena. Our theme was Luminaria. We made a large Luminaria from a refrigerator box, and we lit it with a floor lamp. We had Luminaria all along the sides of the float that we lit with glow sticks.






If you have never been involved in a Relay For Life, find out if there is one in your community and become a part of it. In 2013 there were over 5,000 Relay For Life events with over 4 million people participating. Don't miss out on the fun of this important event. Last year over 400 million dollars was raised by Relay For Life for cancer research, education, advocacy and service.

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2013 Relay For Life of Polk County

Last Friday was the Relay For Life of Polk County annual event.  My wife and I have been involved in Relay For Life since it's inception here in Mena in 2007.

Friday's event turned out great, with the weather cooperating and a large turnout from the community.  Rain and thunderstorms had been forecast for Friday all week, but by the time the decision had to be made about moving the event indoors, the rain forecast was for the rain to be over at 4:00 Friday.  Sure enough their was a shower at 4:00 but the weather was beautiful after that.

This year the survivor lap had new meaning for me.  Each Relay For Life event starts with cancer survivors circling the track in the Survivor Lap.  This past year I had a skin cancer removed from my nose and my Mom was diagnosed with Leukemia and had a cancerous kidney tumor removed by cryoablation.  I was in the Survivor Lap with my Mom and my brother-in-law.

At a Relay event, each team sets up a campsite where members can hang out when thay are not walking laps, and where they can fundraise for Relay.  Our team, Nidec, chose as a theme, Cure Commanders based on the TV show Duck Dynasty.  There was plenty of camo and duck calls could be heard throughout the night.

Our menu included Critter Burgers, Yuppie Burgers, Roasted Duck Bait, Fried Squirrel Brains and Si's Sweet Tea. 

We wore our Cure Commander camo t-shirts as we walked around the track during the Team Lap.

There were lots of fun and exciting things at Relay including firemen, (thanks Ink Fire Department); Elvis, (thanks Cruizzers); Sheriffs arresting people and putting them in jail and a frozen t-shirt contest, (thanks Nidec).

After celebrating the survivors and the party atmosphere of Relay, when it gets dark the focus shifts to the luminaria. Relay For Life participants and donors remember loved ones lost to cancer and honor those battling the disease by dedicating luminaria bags. At our Relay we had over 300 people who have been affected by cancer represented by luminaria bags lit by candles and lining the track.

  

As part of the luminaria ceremony sky lanterns were lit by people who had purchased them in honor of someone with cancer.  My grand daughter helped light one of the sky lanterns.

Because cancer never sleeps, the Relay event goes all night with people walking around the track.  There were lots of activities to keep people entertained such as karaoke, a talent show, 3 on 3 basketball, theme laps, zumba, line dancing and Hope Has No Curfew.

This was the first year that the Relay For Life of Polk County has participated in Hope Has No Curfew. It is a pledge to stay at the event all night. At midnight team members that were still at the event signed the banner pledging to stay all night. Several times during the night the banner made a lap around the track with those who were still there. All team members who stayed all night will be receiving Hope Has No Curfew t-shirts. In all 104 team members kept the pledge to stay all night.

The event was very successful with over 5,000 dollars raised that night.  The teams have raised over 57,000 dollars total so far this year to benefit the American Cancer Society in it's fight against cancer.  Relay For Life is more important that ever as we are seeing cuts in the amount the U.S. government is spending on cancer research.  Privately funded research is going to have to take up the slack.  The American Cancer Society is the largest private funder of cancer research, and Relay For Life is their largest fundraiser.

The 2013 Relay For Life of Polk County was awesome, and I can't wait to see what this community has in store for 2014!

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.