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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.
[to top of second column] |
 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] |
