Monday, June 17, 2013
 
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Relay For Life honors Logan County heroes

American Cancer Society celebrates 100 years

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[June 17, 2013]  The theme for this year's Logan County Relay For Life was "Logan County Heroes: Past, Present and Future."

The primary goal of the annual event is to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. This year's event was in the parking lot of Lincoln College's Lincoln Center and offered an evening of activities beginning Friday and ending Saturday morning.

The Relay also provides time for folks to reunite over a common cause, remember those who are gone, uphold those who are fighting now and thank those who support them.

This year's master of ceremonies was Steve Sauer. He opened the evening by welcoming everyone in attendance and sharing some of the history of the American Cancer Society and the Relay For Life.

The American Cancer Society is celebrating 100 years this year. When it was formed in 1913, the word cancer was rarely spoken aloud. It was a disease that few understood, and even fewer survived.

One hundred years later, it is still a devastating disease. It fills the mind with horror and the heart with fear when the words are spoken aloud in a diagnosis. But, in those 100 years, progress has been made to stop the devastation. A disease once called incurable is now being survived by many. Today 2 out of 3 people who are diagnosed become survivor statistics.

The American Cancer Society is contributing daily to the search for a real cure, but the work goes beyond that. The organization is actively involved in promoting prevention and also offers support to those who are battling to win the fight of their life.

In 1985, a doctor in Tacoma, Wash., decided to raise awareness and money for the American Cancer Society by walking nonstop for 24 hours. He raised the funds by collecting pledges from friends and family who would honor the pledges if he completed his task.

Dr. Gordy Klatt took to the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound and in 24 hours reached his goal: walking and running a total of 83 miles. As he completed his mission, he thought of what would happen if many, many people were to do the same thing. They could form teams and take turns walking, all in the hopes of raising awareness and money for the American Cancer Society.

One year later, the first Relay For Life walk took place with 19 teams raising money for the American Cancer Society.

In the past 28 years, over 5,200 relay events have taken place, raising more than $4.5 billion for cancer research and support.

The Logan County Relay is 16 years young. It was formed in 1998, and many of the people who were there for the first event were still there for the one Friday night and Saturday morning.

After Sauer delivered some history, the opening prayer was delivered by Pastor Robert Long, who is also a cancer survivor.

The American Legion Post 263 color guard was on hand to do the presentation of colors while Lincoln native Debbie Ross sang the national anthem.

The co-chairs for this year's event -- Amy Weidhuner, Nicole Lee and Tabitha Weidhuner -- offered some opening remarks.

As the three young women completed their comments, they ended their time onstage by doing a remarkable thing. Nicole Lee shared that in honor of the night, she was going to ask her two companions on stage to cut her long, brown hair. The hair would then be donated to Locks of Love, an organization that provides wigs and hairpieces to children suffering any type of disease that results in hair loss.

All three of these young women are cancer survivors, so this was an emotional event for all of them, as well as for many in the audience. As first one of her co-chairs took the scissors, and then the next, one snip at a time they cut Lee's hair right at her neckline while a tearful audience watched and finally boomed with cheers and applause when the "tail," which was more than a foot long, was shown to the group.

Next came the introduction of the honorary co-chairs for this year: Robin Ingram and Bill Post. They led the survivors lap while Penny McIntosh sang a contemporary version of "This Little Light of Mine."

As the survivors passed through the red inflatable starting line, they were handed carnations. Many walked hand in hand, with more than a few tears, but also hundreds of smiles for each other and those on the sidelines who cheered them on.

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Sheralyn Bolton was the soloist for the second lap, honoring caregivers. This lap honored those who have offered front-line support for cancer fighters. The caregivers joined their survivors on the track while Bolton sang Amy Grant's "I Will Be Your Friend" and "You've Got a Friend," accompanied by Michael Gowin on the guitar.

The third special lap this year was a new one for the Logan County Relay For Life: a kids lap for all children ages 10 and under. As several little ones took to the track, guest soloist Laurin Hill sang "Everything Is Beautiful."

The next lap was the team lap, with each team introduced and taking to the track while Sauer read brief comments about each team.

The final early lap was the everyone lap, when everyone on the grounds was supposed to take one lap around the track. During this lap, Bolton delivered the "fight back" message. In her message she reminded the group that today 2 out of 3 victims of cancer become survivors of cancer, but that is still not good enough. She said that they as a group should continue to work, continue to fight until 3 out of 3 victims are survivors.

The rest of the evening, team members would take turns so that at least one or two members of each team were walking all night long.

In addition to walking, plenty of other activities were going on. There was a silent auction on one side of the track, and Mike Maske of Mike Maske Auction Service in Mount Pulaski did a live auction of several nice items donated by individuals and  local businesses.

Special music continued through the night, with professional singer and cancer survivor Monica Hay offering some lovely vocals. The TRASH band from Lincoln Christian Church also took to the stage, delighting folks with music that was performed on a variety of items that many would have called "trash" for sure.

There was also a square dance called by Ron Betzelberger, line dancing with Suzanne Gowin, fun dances -- YMCA, chicken dance, hula hoop and cha-cha -- a limbo contest and jump-rope contest, and Zumba with Janell Woolard.

At 9 p.m. was the "Introit for Survivors," with bagpipe player Jim Turley, which was followed by the reading of luminaria names by Post during the luminaria lap

From midnight to 3 a.m. Chris Ramlow served as the DJ for the night and kept the group awake with great music.

As the hours began to wane, less strenuous activities became popular, such as bingo and a scavenger hunt.

As the dawn started to peek over Lincoln, many of the team tents were gone, the luminarias had been collected, and the parking lot at the Lincoln Center looked much as it had on Friday morning, save for a few dedicated souls who stayed out walking in the circle that had once been the track.

At 5 a.m. the group enjoyed coffee and doughnuts, then moved on to the last order of business: the final prayer and balloon launch.

Balloons were handed out to each person present. There was a prayer, and each person was given the opportunity to say something on their own behalf or for someone they love. As heavy, gray clouds cloaked the morning skies, a few small drops of rain fell on those in prayer, as though perhaps God was touched by what he was seeing in his people. Then, in total silence, the balloons were released and drifted upward to the heavens.

And with that, this year's Relay For Life came to an end.

As of Saturday morning the official results of this year's fundraising efforts had not been released. However, all who were involved in the committee for this year's event were confident that this year, the Logan County Relay For Life will exceed a lifetime total of over $1 million. To reach this amount in just 16 short years is an admirable accomplishment, no doubt.

[By NILA SMITH]

Relay For Life of Logan County

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