GREENFIELD — “I’m going to laugh, I’m going to cry. It’s just an emotional day,” said Julie McKinley, event lead for the Relay for Life of Hancock County.
McKinley was about an hour away from Relay for Life’s biggest event of the year, where more than 400 Relay for Life team members from all over the county would be walking on the track at Greenfield-Central Junior High School as a fundraiser to help fight cancer. From 4 p.m. on Friday to 7 a.m. Saturday morning, cancer survivors, caregivers and those who have been touched by the disease walked around the school’s track. The event is part fundraiser, part celebration, part tribute to those lost to cancer and partly a promise to never give up when it comes to fighting the disease that has touched so many.
McKinley got involved in Relay for Life about five years ago when she lost one of her childhood friends to brain cancer.
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“I decided I wanted to fight,” she said. “This is all I can do but I’m going to do it.”
She started a team and that year raised about $1,500 for cancer research. One year later, she and her Cancer Curesaders team raised $12,000. This year, the team consisting of more than 150 members has already raised more than $15,000.
The Curesaders were one of 19 teams participating in the Relay for Life this year and prior to the event starting, they had raised $53,000. McKinley said the goal for the year is to raise $70,000 which will go to the American Cancer Society for treatment and research.
Throughout the night, teams participated in themed laps in order to keep them going through the night and Relay for Life provided plenty of entertainment from live music to games for children to a K-9 demonstration. The teams were also responsible for fundraising during the event with food sales, silent auctions or other events like a cornhole tournament.
One of the more emotional events is the survivor lap where people who have beaten cancer take a lap around the track, some of them with the caregivers who helped them through their battle.
The 2018 Relay for Life marked the 10th year for Brooke Melton, who decided to take part after losing her grandmother to lung cancer. She said it is the fighting spirit of those dealing with breast cancer that keeps her coming back year after year.
“Some years you think ‘oh, I’m not going to do it this year,’ or ‘maybe I won’t spend as much time on it,’” Melton said. “But then I think about all those that are fighting cancer and if they don’t get to take a day off, then I’m not going to either.”
McKinley nods in agreement, saying that it’s easy to find motivation in the survivors and the success stories.
“Without events like this, we wouldn’t see some of the success stories we see,” McKinley said. “So we’re going to keep fighting.”
