Why I Relay

The 2014 Relay For Life of Polk County celebration will he held May 30th starting at 6:00 P.M. at Janssen Park in Mena.  15 teams of hard working local volunteers have been raising money to be used in the fight against cancer.  Each one of these volunteers have a story and a reason that they participate in Relay For Life.  Here a some of the reasons that local Relay For Life volunteers have for being involved.

I am involved with Relay For Life because I have had multiple friends and family members touched by this disease.  I believe that coming together as a community to raise money for more birthdays is a duty for every community member. - Natalie Rose

I Relay because of my daughter Melissa.  It was such a helpless feeling for her Dad and I - not knowing what we could do to help her.  Then we learned about Relay For Life and we have been involved ever since.  Raising dollars to help find a cure for this horrible disease is our way of helping Melissa and others. -  Rhonda McKee

I Relay because of my mother in law and brother in law and several friends.  My mother in law and brother in law are survivors but I have lost two very close friends.  It is my hope that if we keep fighting we can find a cure - Terri Harrison

I Relay because I never want a parent to hear the words "your child has cancer".  At the age of 1 year 23 months my son was diagnosed with leukemia.  Cancer is an evil battle and one that needs to go away!  The American Cancer Society is the leader in research and finding cures.  I am proud to support that effort. - Charlotte Wiles

I Relay because I lost my father, brother, father in law, brother in law, and sister in law to cancer.  The loss of them was very hard, but seeing my 2 1/2 year old grand daughter have a bone marrow test and seeing her go through surgery was heart breaking.  Thanks to the Lord and the knowledge he gave doctors, she is a survivor.  I want to raise money for research so that a cure can be found and no other family has to go through what we have gone through. - Toni Tillota

I Relay for one of my best friends and co worker, Betty Johnson and for my two aunts that have passed away from colon cancer.  Relay is a great camaraderie of friends, family and co workers caring for each other. - Debbie Welch

I Relay because I want to fight for a cure for cancer.  My favorite part of Relay For Life is the lives we touch and the friends we make for life. - Crystal Mos

I Relay for the fight against cancer because I have lost a lot of family member to cancer.  My favorite part of Relay For Life is when everyone comes together to raise money for the fight.  The night of Relay is the best because everyone is there for the same reason.  It feels like one big family reunion. - Jared Standridge

I started with Relay For Life because I lost my aunt to pancreatic cancer.  I want so badly to help in the fight for a cure for ALL cancer.  I am amazed that so much of every dollar goes to research.  I Relay for More Birthdays. - Brandi Sachs

I Relay to be involved in my community and for the people that aren't able to. - Samantha Rusert

My team Relays for cancer survivors and for a cure for cancer! - James Hale

I Relay for my son Traven.  We are all in this for a cure for cancer. - Carol Lane

I Relay because I care.  I want a cure. - Jacque Gallego

I am involved in Relay For Life to help find a cure for cancer.  Relay is good people working together for a cure and having fun. - George McKee

The American Cancer Society, through the fundraising efforts of volunteers like these here in Polk County along with volunteers in over 5,200 Relays in the U.S., saves lives and creates more birthdays by helping you stay well, helping you get well, finding cures and fighting back against this disease. Thanks to research funded by Relay For Life, many cancers that were once considered a death sentence can now be cured and for many more people their cancer can now be treated effectively.  Every person in Polk County who has been touched by cancer benefits from the research funded by the dedicated volunteers of Relay For Life of Polk County.

Relay For Life

Relay For Life has been raising money for the American Cancer Society since 1985, when Gordy Klatt came up with a way to raise funds for his local American Cancer Society office in Tacoma, Washington, and show support of all his patients who had battled cancer.  He did this by spending 24 hours circling the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound.  He ran more than 83 miles and his efforts raised $27,000 to fight cancer.  It has only gotten bigger and better from there.

Relay For Life events are held for the purpose of celebrating cancer survivors, remembering those we have lost, and giving hope that one day the world may be cancer free.  Through the celebrating and remembering, the success gets passed along to the American Cancer society through the fundraising that happens all year long.  With each Relay For life that takes place, it adds to the overall funding that can be used toward cancer research and treatments.

Volunteers from all around Polk County are preparing for this years Relay For Life celebration that will he held May 30th starting at 6:00 P.M. at Janssen Park in Mena.  15 teams of hard working local volunteers have been raising money to be used in the fight against cancer.  This year alone, because of the fundraising efforts of over 5,200 Relays in the U.S., the American Cancer Society is funding research for over fifty different types of cancer.

This year has seen some new and innovative fundraising efforts by Relay For Life team members.  There has been a Flushing out Cancer toilet bouquet seen around town.  The Boots vs. Burgers Basketball Bash was a lot of fun.   The Melanoma Awareness Prevention Program Pageant had over 40 participants and the audience filled the Crossing auditorium.  The Miss-ter Relay Pageant was highly entertaining.

Relay For Life of Polk County volunteers are serious about fighting cancer.  They are fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in our community. Each volunteer who works to benefit Relay For Life takes pride in knowing that they are working to create a world where this disease will no longer threaten our loved ones or rob anyone of another birthday.

For the past eight years my wife and I have worked tirelessly to raise money for cancer research.  One of my wife's motivations is the story of her mothers struggle with cancer.  Even though her mother's cancer was terminal, she agreed to be a part of a bone marrow study that was funded by the American Cancer Society.  My wife and her family tried to talk her out of it knowing how painful it would be, but she said, "you never know who you might help".  She lost her battle with cancer in 1976.  20 years later a bone marrow transplant, made possible by that research from 1976, saved my wife's sister's life.  Recently my wife's cousin was diagnosed with Leukemia and was told that without a bone marrow transplant his life expectancy was just three months.  After a successful bone marrow transplant his cancer is now in remission.  My wife's mother was willing to take part in research because it might help a complete stranger not knowing that it would end up saving the lives of family that she loved.  Research that is being conducted today will save many lives in the future.

A little over a year ago my Mom learned that she had a cancerous kidney tumor. Last February she underwent treatment on her kidney tumor. The procedure that the doctors used is called cryoablation.  Cryoablation uses hollow needles that are inserted into the tumor. When the probes are in place, the cryogenic freezing unit  uses cold energy to destroy the cancerous tissue.  I have spent the last eight years doing all that I can to raise money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  When I first got involved with Relay For Life the procedure that was used on my Mom last year was just in the research stage.  It has only become an available treatment in the last three years.  Research that was funded by money that I helped raise right here in Polk County ended up providing a treatment and cure for my Mom.  With cryoablation treatment kidney cancer is cured in approximately 97 percent of patients.

Research is at the heart of Relay For Life.  For more than 65 years, the American Cancer Society has been finding answers that save lives - from changes in lifestyle to new approaches in therapies to improving cancer patients' quality-of-life.  In fact, no single nongovernmental, not-for-profit organization in the US has invested more to find the causes and cures of cancer.

You can be a part of Relay For Life by searching for a Relay near you at this link.

To read many other great blogs or to become part of the ABC Wednesday family click here.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  I'm thankful to be able to spend some time with my Mom today. A little over a year ago my Mom learned that she had a cancerous kidney tumor. Last February she underwent treatment on her kidney tumor. As you can see from the CT scan capture it was a large tumor. The procedure that the doctors used is called cryoablation.

Cryoablation uses hollow needles through which cooled, thermally conductive, fluids are circulated. Cryoprobes are inserted into the tumor. When the probes are in place, the cryogenic freezing unit removes heat ("cools") from the tip of the probe and by extension from the surrounding tissues.  The most common application of cryoablation is to ablate solid tumors found in the lung, liver, breast, kidney and prostate.

The concept of cryoablation is relatively new in cancer surgery for any disease.  Traditionally, surgeons have treated cancer by literally cutting it out. In contrast to this approach, cryoablation is a different concept in that cold energy is used to destroy the cancerous tissue at the exact site where it exists in the body. Cryoablation is particularly well suited to kidney cancer.

Cryoablation is a very promising new approach to kidney cancer. This kind of new treatment is why I am a strong supporter of cancer research.  I have spent the last eight years doing all that I can to raise money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  As I was researching this procedure I came across the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Library website.  I found these words about Renal Cryoablation that were written in 2008.  "Early results have demonstrated that it may offer an alternative for the treatment of renal masses with the advantages of minimal complications, spared renal function, decreased overall costs and equivalent oncologic efficacy. Long-term results are required in order to apply this minimally invasive technique to a broader spectrum of patients".  Just six years ago the procedure that was used on my Mom was a brand new technology.  It has only been available in Arkansas for three years.

Several large medical centers have produced data demonstrating that kidney cancer is cured in approximately 97 percent of patients who undergo cryoablation with a follow-up of three years. Because it is such a new procedure , 10 year follow-up information on patients having undergone cryoablation is not yet available.  Some of the data is showing 98 to 100 percent cure rates.

I have been involved with the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life for the past eight years.  My wife and I have worked tirelessly to raise money for cancer research.  When I was raising money I didn't realize that the research that was being funded would come so close to home.  Before cryoablation was an available treatment for kidney tumors, the only treatment was to surgically remove the kidney. Over a year after her treatment, my Mom is doing good and her doctor is confident that the treatment was successful.

I know that at Relay For Life events we often hear that we are raising money to find a cure. Cancer is not just one disease, it is many many diseases. Sometimes when we see how many people are affected by cancer and how much misery suffering and sadness it causes it seems hopeless. In my work for the American Cancer Society people often tell me that there will never be a cure because cancer is a big business and the doctors and pharmaceutical companies would suppress a cure if it was found. What a sad way of life it is for these people who have no hope. One of the things that Relay For Life events around the world focus on is providing people with hope. Hope is why we Relay!

  
I like a statement that the American Cancer Society released recently.  "Together with our millions of supporters, we save lives and create more birthdays by helping you stay well, helping you get well, finding cures and fighting back against this disease. Thanks to research funded by the American Cancer Society, many cancers that were once considered a death sentence can now be cured and for many more people their cancer can now be treated effectively".

It is way to simplistic to be focusing on a cure.  The American Cancer Society is focusing on "cures" plural.  The fact that many cancers that were once considered a death sentence can now be cured should give us hope. The fact that eight years ago when I got involved with Relay For Life the treatment used on my Mom would not have been available, but thanks to cancer research is now widely used gives me hope. The 97 to 100 percent cure rates that have been seen with renal cryoablation gives me hope.

Happy Mothers Day!

Relay For Life Today

Today is the day that Polk County will be having it's annual Relay For Life event. I am involved in Relay For Life for a number of reasons. The number one reason is because my wife is passionate about Relay. She has such a passion for Relay For Life that it rubs off on those around her. Her passion stems from her family history. Her mother died of cancer when Gina was just 21 years old. Her father had colon cancer, and all three of her sisters have had breast cancer. She is the only person in her immediate family that is cancer free.

Several years ago, Gina's sister Roberta got involved with Relay For Life in Enumclaw, Washington. For a number of years, Gina would travel to Enumclaw to be a part of Relay For Life there. Two years ago, we learned that Polk County was going to have a Relay. We got involved in the 2007 Relay, and have been involved ever since.

This past year my Mom was diagnosed with cancer.  All of a sudden, the work that I have done with Relay For Life and the American Cancer Society came sharply into focus.  It became even more personal.  The procedure the doctors used to treat her cancer was cryoablation which is a very promising new approach to kidney cancer. This kind of new treatment is why I am a strong supporter of cancer research.

My uncle, Delbert Lawry, died from cancer a few years ago. I lost not only an uncle, but a friend and someone who was willing to help anytime. I have come to realize the importance of the work that the American Cancer Society does. It is involved in research, prevention, and helping those who are dealing with cancer.

Just about everyone has been affected by cancer in one way or another. Relay For Life is a fun way to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society. There is probably no other cause that a person can support that touches more lives. Relay celebrates those who have battled cancer, it remembers those who have fallen, and it provides a way to fight back. That is why I am proud to be a part of Relay For Life. I hope that you will be a part of Relay For Life too.