Relay for Life is a 24-hour event held in cities all over the globe. The main purpose is to bring awareness to the American Cancer Society's fight against cancer. It's also a major fundraiser for ACS and brings in thousands of dollars each year. There are different ceremonies held during the 24 hours, such as a "Fight Back" ceremony (to introduce different ways to help fight back against cancer), the "Survivor" ceremony (to honor survivors - and according to ACS, you are a survivor the day you are diagnosed with cancer - and their caregivers), and the "Luminary" ceremony (to remember those who we have lost to cancer). Teams are formed and "camp out" around a track for the 24 hours and the goal is to not only raise money, but to have someone walking on the track from your team for the entire 24 hours! There are different themes for each hour of walking to keep things interesting and there are all kinds of fundraisers and fun things happening throughout the night. If you are ever able to go to a Relay for Life, I highly recommend it! It's for a great cause and is really great for the community!!
My first two years with the Relay, I was a team captain for a youth group my sister-in-law was working with. Last year, I was team captain for our family team and also on the committee as the accounting/registration chairperson. This year, I was on the committee again. This event is a major passion of mine, and I just love participating in it each year. Last year was the first year I really got Emma involved as well...we raise money together and then we have also spent the entire night together at the Relay! I also try to explain to Emma exactly what we're doing. She knows that the disease we're raising money for is cancer. She knows people who have beat cancer (my grandpa, our friend, Deb)...and she knows that we have lost people to cancer (Tony's grandparents, my old band director, Jim). We also visit Relays in the area to get ideas and just to experience the magic! Our first one this year, Fenton, we were walking with my team from work. We got there as the survivor ceremony was ending and Emma was asking what we were doing. I told her that we were clapping and cheering for the people in the purple shirts (all survivors that come to Relay get a purple "SURVIVOR" t-shirt) who either have cancer, or beat cancer. I gave her the examples of Aunt Deb and Papa and she completely understood. I know this, because the very next day, we went to the Grand Blanc Relay, and as we were walking up to the track, she said, "Oh Mama, there's a purple shirt!" When I asked her what it meant, she said, "Well, it means they either have cancer or they BEAT it!" Smart girl!
A week later, we went to the Flushing Relay (where Tony was actually DJ-ing!) and as we were pulling up into our parking spot, Emma says from the back seat, "Okay, Mama, remember. If you see a person with a purple shirt on, it means they either HAVE cavities or they BEAT it!" I looked at her in the mirror (she had a funny look on her face) and said, "Cavities?" ~pause~ "CANCER." She replied! :) She's a hoot, and I love that she knows what's going on and that she wants to participate!
So this year, she was all excited to spend the night as well! Our Relay was June 26-27 at the Davison High School track (VERY nice facilities!)...we went to set up our campsite on Friday night...here's Emma and Bradlee (who cheers for "lee-lay!" whenever he knows we're going!) getting ready to go set up:
At 6pm, we had the Survivor Ceremony. My parents and sister, Karyn, came to see it, and my dad's high school classmate (and still one of his best friends), Don (we call him Uncle Max) also came with his girlfriend, Betsy. Uncle Max is a cancer survivor, and we learned that Betsy is also! It was so great to have them there and to honor them! Here's Uncle Max with my dad!
One thing we make sure we have at Relay for the survivor ceremony is golf carts to help those who can't walk much be able to make it around the track for their survivor lap. They are usually completely filled and are definitely much appreciated. Well, this year, we brought along the little princess car of Emma's that she has at Tony's parents' house. There is a little girl, about 4 years old, named Kaia, who is a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with neuroblastoma of the kidney when she was 18 months old and this is her 3rd Relay with us as a Survivor! When I told Emma about her, I was just saying that Kaia was a survivor. Finally Emma interrupted me and said, "Wait, Mama. Does that mean she'll have a purple shirt on?" I told her yes, to which she responded, "Does she have cancer? Or did she beat it?" I told her Kaia beat cancer. Emma got a smile on her face and said, "Oh GOOD!" Amazing. So, to kick off the survivor lap, Emma drove Kaia in her princess car around the whole track and they were the H-I-T of the event! It gives me goosebumps just writing about it, and by far, this was the highlight of this year's Relay for me. I think they're going to want to do it again next year! Here they are...(oh, and they didn't run into anyone, either!!!)!! LOL
Around 10pm we had the Luminary ceremony, where we light decorated bags around the track in honor of those we have lost to cancer. Here are some of the bags we had around our campsite...
On the bleachers of the track (it's actually a football stadium, so on the visitor's bleachers) there are plain bags that are lit to spell out "HOPE" - then during the luminary ceremony, they "magically" move to spell out "CURE" - and then back to "HOPE" to burn the rest of the night. Here's a really good picture of "HOPE"!!!
Emma finally fell asleep around 1:15am and I ended up staying up the whole 24 hours...making sure I walked the track at LEAST once per hour! She fell asleep on top of her sleeping bag, in her shark tent, in the bigger 4-room tent! She gets a big kick knowing and telling everyone that when she fell asleep, "It was already morning!" LOL
We woke her up around 8:45 the next morning, just in time to eat some pancakes and help clean up a bit before the closing ceremonies. Compared to last year, in which she was a CRABBY girl, this year, she was awesome! She helped out and ate her pancakes and was smiley the whole morning!
We had the closing ceremonies and get everything packed up before a line of severe thunderstorms came through the area...we lucked out again! It was a great weekend and we had a great time! Emma and I raised over $750 ourselves and the Relay for Life of Davison raised over $90,000!!!
If you want to know how you can help, this year or in the future, either send me an email and I can help, or go to http://main.acsevents.org/goto/kristyemma to make a donation! We can collect money for our Relay 2010 (the one we just had) until August 31, 2010. After that, it goes towards next year's totals. If you wait until after August 31st, I wouldn't do it online until next year, so just contact me, and I'll make sure you are notified when 2011's website is up and running! Emma's and my goal for this year is $1000, and right now we've got $790, so tell all your friends, too! :)
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