Relay for Life kicks off season
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on January 28, 2018 3:05 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Suzy Vanhoozier plays the ping pong ball game during the Relay for Life kickoff carnival Thursday. Games like giant bowling and darts were set up for people to earn tickets for a door prize drawing.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Mallory Herring, a caretaker, bowls to earn tickets for door prizes at the Relay for Life kickoff carnival Thursday night at First Church.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Dr. Lee Adams gives the blessing to start the annual Relay for Life kickoff banquet Thursday night at The First Church. Also pictured is event lead and this year's ringmaster of ceremonies Paula Cox. This year's theme is Carnival for a Cure.
The 2018 Relay for Life kickoff for team captains and organizers Thursday night had a carnival atmosphere, complete with games and prizes.
Paula Cox, people lead, was dressed as ringmaster. Brenda Robinson, community development manager for the southeast region of the American Cancer Society, donned a thick black mustache for her portrayal of a magician. And Ashley Woodard, experience lead, replete with lots of gold jewelry, including a large hoop in her nose, was a fortune teller.
But the reason for the event, and the annual fundraiser, is a more serious one -- finding a cure for cancer.
This year's Relay for Life will again be held at the fairgrounds, on May 18.
Affiliated with the American Cancer Society, funds raised from Relay events go toward research and support for patients undergoing treatments.
"This year, the emphasis is on access to care, getting people to treatment," Robinson said. "This is a major concern for us. There's lots of people that live in counties that don't have public transportation and don't have access to their appointments."
She said the ACS is partnering with public transportation agencies around the state to secure discounted rates for cancer patients. They are also recruiting drivers to be part of the "Road to Recovery" program, she said.
"In the next couple weeks we're going to hear more about what's being made available to help the issue," she said.
The ACS is also promoting parents getting the HPV vaccine for their children, Robinson said.
"The HPV vaccine we're pushing this year as our focus because it can eliminate 90 percent of six different kinds of cancer, cervical cancer being No. 1," she said. "It's a series of two vaccines and can be given as early as 9 years old and as late as 26. But the ideal age is 11 to 12.
"It's not new. It's been around for 10 years and there's no known complications. Look it up on cancer.org and type in 'HPV vaccine' to learn more about it."
Relay for Life of Wayne County is also issuing a "Plus One Challenge" to the community toward making this year's event its best ever. Not only through attendance but money raised, Robinson said.
"The challenge is to double our participation and if Wayne County is one of the top 12 events or at least in the Top 12 increasing our participation numbers, we could win a giant Relay for Life inflatable chair to have at the event," she said.
Organizers are currently looking for teams and volunteers to work with the upcoming event.
One team effort new to the event this year is "Hope Floats," formed by a kayaking couple and their daughter, Chris and Kim Tart and Danielle Bass, respectively, who live in Lillington.
"We have been volunteering with Relay for about nine years," said Chris, explaining that their efforts began after his wife got cancer in 2009. It prompted the couple to do something for others going through similar things.
"About two years ago we realized we were not raising as much money as we wanted to raise," he said. "We wanted to do something unique, that not a lot of people were doing."
On one of their trips to Florida to watch the space shuttle launch, they met other kayakers.
That became the basis for their Relay team, resulting in the goal of doing a long-distance kayak trip. Their first goal was a 300-mile trip, accomplishing a good portion of that on a route from Raleigh to Oriental via the Neuse River.
"This is our seventh year coming up," Chris said. "We do it every April, the anniversary date of when she (Kim) was diagnosed.
"We have 13 team members, which we have had anywhere from 13 to 26 at one time. We have raised a little over $275,000 in the six years we have paddled. We're one of only two teams in the world that do exactly what we do. The other is in Florida."
Wayne County has been particularly receptive to the "Hope Floats" effort, he said -- including Dr. Lee Adams, one of the founders of the Relay for Life effort that began in 1990 and launched its first event in 1994.
The kayakers typically stop on the Neuse River route in Goldsboro and Seven Springs, with Goldsboro Parks and Recreation stepping up and providing showers for the team members. Garris Chapel Church in LaGrange has also helped from the beginning, feeding those on the team, Chris said.
"If anybody wanted to be part of it, they can paddle the whole way or come out and 'day paddle' with us," he said. "Check out our website, hopefloatsnc.com."
Vicki Terrell, fundraising lead for Relay, is this year's honorary chairperson, speaking at Thursday's kickoff.
Her involvement with Relay began around 1990. At the time, she didn't know anyone with cancer, she said.
That changed four years later, when her grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer and died three months later. Terrell's family began attending Relay in her grandmother's honor.
In 2005, the role took a more personal turn -- on April 15, "the day everyone else in the country was worrying about filing their taxes," Terrell heard the chilling words that she had Stage 3 colon cancer.
She was 38 at the time, with a daughter in high school and a son in middle school.
The next 10 months were spent going back and forth to Greenville for chemotherapy and radiation treatments.
She is now a 12-year cancer survivor, she said.
"I can remember being so sick and we were trying to get a prom dress (for my daughter)," she said. "That's when it hit me that cancer did not just affect me. It affects everyone around you."
Terrell expressed gratitude for the community that rallied around her and her family, and the more than 25-year relationship she has had with Relay for Life.
"It's made me appreciate all of you and what you have done," she told the audience. "All your stories are different than mine but we're all here for the same reason -- trying to get rid of this disease that we know as cancer."