Relay for Life

2018 Relay for Life aims to 'Kick Cancer Out of the Game'
 

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[June 18, 2018]  On Saturday, June 16, the Annual Relay for Life was held in the Jack Nutt Arena at Lincoln College.



Since 1998, the Relay for Life has been held in Lincoln, with local teams raising thousands of dollars each year. This year, the Master of Ceremonies was Cameron Kurtz, who said the Relay for Life sheds some light on cancer and helps to make a difference in the fight against cancer.

Kurtz said the money raised continues to help people save lives through research to find cancer’s causes and cures, access to screening, early detection, and treatment for everyone. Some services provided to the community are the Road to Recovery Rides, which helps cancer patients get rides to and from medical appointments and the Look Good/Feel Good Wig Program, which helps with the appearance related effects of cancer treatments. In addition, Hope Lodge provides lodging during treatments, and Breast Cancer Support and online communities provide support and education.

This year’s event began with a ribbon cutting ceremony as Nila Smith, who represented the LDN ribbon cut crew, welcomed everyone. Smith asked everyone to picture cancer as a game of Blackjack and the Blackjack dealer is playing with a stacked deck. Smith said thanks to the hard work of the Logan County Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society, we are learning how to count cards, and the day is going to come when the conversation changes from that Blackjack dealer saying, “I can’t lose” to us saying to cancer, “you can’t win.”



Helping with the ribbon cutting were Lincoln Mayor Seth Goodman, Lincoln Alderman Rick Hoefle, Lincoln Daily News’s Ribbon Cut Team’s Karen Hargis and Roy Logan; Event Lead Cyra Buttell; and Honorary Co-Chairs Jolene Fellers and Amy Weidhuner.



Once the ribbon was cut, Emily Johnson performed the National Anthem and a Color Guard presented the flags, followed by a prayer by Bill Post asking God to be with those touched by this dreadful disease and that a cure would be found someday soon.



Buttell then welcomed everyone and thanked the many on the Relay event team who put in a lot of time and showed dedication as they helped put the event together.

After Kurtz read a brief history of the event, teams were introduced and did their team laps.

This year's teams were:

The Academic Development Institute
Angels All Around
Dana’s Team
Ethel’s Angels
Emblem Angels
Faith, Hope, and Love
Friends Walking for a Cure
Friends & Family Relay Team
Gail’s Pumpkin Patch
Jigglers
Josh
Lincoln CEFCU
Lynx for a Cure
Northern Lights
Purpose Driven People
St. Peter’s Lutheran in Emden
St. John’s UCC Remembers
Super Papa’s Team
Team CUREage
Team Kayla
The Rack Pack
Tictacs

Cancer survivors Jolene Fellers and Amy Weidhuner, the honorary co-chairs, shared stories of their battles with cancer.

Weidhuner said her journey started many years ago with several family members who had cancer. Then, in 2011, Weidhuner was diagnosed with breast cancer. In June 2015, she was diagnosed with a rare from or leukemia that will be with her for the rest of her life. For now, Weidhuner is in remission. In 2013, Weidhuner was a co-chairman of the Relay and as part of the event that year, she cut survivor Nicole Lee’s hair.

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Weidhuner’s daughter Tabatha read a poem about moms and said her mom is a superhero who puts others before herself and drops everything for Tabatha when she needs her. Tabatha said at age 16, she was her mom’s caretaker, quitting her job and missing activities to help her mom out. Her mom still tried to be there for her and her sister and has never given up. Tabatha said her mom is a hero and role model who has shown what bravery and determination are all about.



Honorary Co-Chair Jolene Fellers is a young survivor who turns four next week, so her mom shared her story. Fellers was diagnosed with Retinal Blastoma in April 2016 when she was around one-and-half-years old. The Retinal Blastoma affected her vision and Feller had treatments at Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. Feller now sees a team of specialists at Will Eye Hospital in Pennsylvania. Recently, the family was finally told her cancer is under control.


After their stories were shared, Fellers and Weidhuner led the survivor's walk, which included many other survivors from the area. Following the Survivors, Caregivers then walked laps.

In keeping with the theme “Let’s Kick Cancer Out of the Game,” several teams offered games at their tents such as Connect Four, Twister, or Tossing Balls into Pumpkin containers. Other games teams could join in throughout the day and evening included Scrabble and Trivia.

The Super Papa’s Team decorated its tent to look like the game Candyland. The Academic Development Institute Team decorated their tent like a game of Pacman.

The Jigglers’ Team had a decorative maypole with ribbons around it. Kathleen Brumbaugh said the pink pole represents their breast cancer support group, the black ribbon represents melanoma and skin cancers, the peach ribbon represents uterine cancer, and the teal ribbon represented ovarian cancer.

As in year’s past, several vendors were there to sell their wares and share some of the proceeds with the Relay. A silent auction with many items up for bid brought in even more funds.



Entertainment included music by Emily Hope Music, Line Dancing taught by Suzanne and Erin Gowin, and performances by various teams and individuals from Audra’s Studio of Dance.

As Co-Chair Nicole Tripplett Lee said, the Relay for Life is a time for “family, friends, and coworkers to gather to finish the fight against cancer.”


[Angela Reiners]

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