Kick off the fight
By Melinda Harrell
Published in News on January 22, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Ashley Woodard and Paula Cox, "The Bob Ross of Hope," welcome everyone during the Relay for Life kickoff event held Thursday at First Pentecostal Holiness Church. This year's theme was "Paint Your World Purple," and attendees were encouraged to wear purple to show their spirit
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Michael Freeman hugs his mother, Tanya Blount, after giving his honorary caregiver chair speech Thursday night.
When Michael Freeman stepped up to the podium during the Wayne County Relay for Life kickoff event Thursday night to speak to supporters as the first caregiver honorary chair, his childhood memories of his mother's sickness and her victory nearly overwhelmed him.
Freeman became a cancer caregiver at 12 years old.
His mother, Tanya Blount, was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer in 1989, and as the oldest son he felt it was his responsibility and his duty to care for his two younger siblings as well as his ailing mother.
"I had countless nights sitting in my room, sitting by my room door, listening to cries to God, 'Why God, why me? I am going to miss my children, Lord, why me?'" he said with tears welling in his eyes.
"The day my mom came home from surgery I was thinking about how I could make life better for the remaining six months of life. How am I, a 12-year-old, going to take care of my younger siblings, still go to school and make life my own. That night I prayed. I slept for a couple of hours, and I woke up to cries of pain and an open Bible."
He said the Bible was opened to Luke 1:37.
"For with God nothing shall be impossible. Six months to live, 26 years later, nothing shall be impossible. Diagnosed, but healed, nothing shall be impossible," Freeman said to applause.
Ms. Blount is happy to see her son become the honorary chair for Relay this year.
"I am really excited," she said with a smile.
"And I am thankful that I am still alive and can see it. It is overwhelming."
As Freeman spoke of the struggle of a caregiver and supporter of a survivor, Jerry Parker, the honorary survivor chair, spoke about the joy of life.
Parker was diagnosed in with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2000, but he did not use his time to speak about his treatments or his feelings of diagnosis.
"I can't talk gloom and doom," he said.
"I know where I have been. I know there are a lot of survivors that have been where I have with the transplants and the bone marrow. I just didn't want to talk about that."
He did focus on the value of working as a team to make Relay for Life a success, however, with a speech laced with light-hearted jokes and audience involvement.
But when he talked about his granddaughter calling him hero for being a cancer survivor he became emotional.
"She said, 'Papaw, you are my hero,'" he said.
"And I said, 'Honey, Papaw is not a hero, Papaw is a survivor.' With that I got to thinking, what is a hero? I can tell you right now, if you take a look at this room right now, you see what a hero is. Take a look at each other's eyes. All of you have a common core, you are caring, you are compassionate, and you have a stand for stamping out cancer. Everyone in this room, you have been affected, and you will give your time away from family, your time, your loyalty and your money. Whatever it takes to work on it. These things that really matter. You are the combatants. One single entity can not wipe out cancer, but as a group you can. Survivors, we say they persevere, but the heroes are the ones that give the survivor the strength to endure the struggle. The hero is always there to help soothe the pain and help whenever they can. Don't misunderstand me, heroes aren't just family and friends, it is people you don't even know, each one of you."
Parker was speaking about a person like Vivian Coley, who understands the need to raise money for the American Cancer Society.
She was sitting with other members of District 12 Order of the Eastern Star during the kickoff event.
She lost five sisters and three brothers to cancer and has two sisters that survived.
"(ACS) helped them out a lot," she said.
"When they were going back and forth to the doctors, it helped them so much. Maybe one day they will find a cure in the future, maybe."
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Paula Cox, Wayne County Relay for Life event lead, and Ashley Woodard, Wayne County Relay for Life experience lead, said the kickoff event is a way for Relay to say thank you to those that gave support last year and rally them for the upcoming fundraising year.
"We invite them to come out and get them pumped up for the new year of fundraising," Ms. Woodard said.
"We are just thanking them for last year and want them to continue their support to help in the upcoming year. Last year we had 250 come out, and this year we are expecting 200," she said.