Sunday, June 24, 2007 10:33 PM, CDT

Hello,
I’ve got a two parter here tonight. Although I caught you up on a lot of the chronological events in my last post. There are a few bigger happenings that occurred over the past few weeks that deserve a little more attention. I’m going to use tonight to talk about the Relay for Life in Worcester, MA on June 8th.
Part I
What an unforgettable night it was. I have been on a Relay team for eight years (I’m pretty sure that’s how long it’s been). I told you all about my Auntie Donna when I introduced you to my chemo nurse Faith. But even though I’ve told you about her, I think I’ll risk redundancy and tell you again! J
My Auntie Donna battled ovarian cancer but lost her life in the early nineties. Her daughters, Wendy, Cheryl and Pam, organized a team to take part in the Worcester Relay for Life back in 1999 (I’m pretty sure that’s when we started). Auntie Donna collected penguins so we became the Prima-Donna Penguins. We have bright yellow team shirts that say Prima-Donna Penguins on the front. There’s a big penguin on the back with the phrase “Waddle You Do for a Cure?”
For those of you who have never participated in a Relay for Life let me tell you that it takes place around a track with campsites all on the inside (well that’s what the one in Worcester is like. If I’m incorrect in describing a Relay in another city, I apologize!).Relay is a 24 hour event starting on a Friday afternoon. The idea is that every team must have a team member on the track for all 24 hours and each team member raises money.
It’s so much fun. We have tons of food and drink, a grill, tents, tables, and usually a camper. For those of us that are related, it’s almost like a family reunion because so many of our cousins and aunts and uncles are up at the Relay. It is also quite emotional because there are a few poignant events scheduled on Friday night. The first is the survivors lap. All cancer survivors wear a purple shirt and walk the track with no other walkers allowed on the track. Right after the Survivor’s Lap is the Caretaker’s Lap which allows friends and family the opportunity to walk with the cancer survivor they have supported or sadly to walk in honor of their loved one who lost their battle. I think my Uncle Ralph and my cousins still walk the caretakers lap for Auntie Donna. They took care of her and know what it means tend to a loved one with all the hope that she will survive and then to nurse her into her final days when hope had run out.
Obviously, this year was my first year as a survivor. There is a tent where I could sign in, get my purple shirt and sign the survivor banner. When you sign the survivor banner you write how long you’ve been a survivor next to your name. I always have a hard time pinning down my diagnosis date because I found out I had cancer on February 2 but didn’t get the accurate diagnosis until March 6. So I wrangle with the answer to the question, “when were you diagnosed?” I hate to get all wrapped up in details, but that is a very good question….and when someone asks me I almost want to say, “well, do you have about a half an hour? Because if you do, then I can tell you my whole story and then you can help me decide when I was diagnosed.” I guess I’m going with February 2nd because that is the day I sat in Dr. Walsh’s office and he told me I had cancer and also because it makes it sound like I’ve survived that much longer--J
I’ve always loved the Survivor Lap because all the people up at Relay stand on the inside of the track and applaud as the survivors walk past. I cry at the drop of a hat so to stand there and watch people of all ages (and I’m talking from the very young to the very old) walk as survivors while hundreds of people cheer them on makes me cry like a baby. Add the fact that the Worcester Firefighter Bagpipers (I’m sure they have a much more formal name and as I read again what I wrote, I can practically guarantee you that they have a better name. However, I apologize that I don’t know what it is!!) play during the lap and accompany the survivors and I’m crying before the survivors make it past our campsite.