Relay tells tales of loss, triumph
Megan Strickland
A luminaria honors Florence Kneebone, one of more than 500 lit bags circling the track at Ronan High School on Friday for Lake County’s Relay for Life event.
Megan Strickland
The team from St. Luke Community Healthcare begins their walk around the track.
Megan Strickland
A luminaria honors Florence Kneebone, one of more than 500 lit bags circling the track at Ronan High School on Friday for Lake County’s Relay for Life event.
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
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The candlelit bags twinkled individually as they encircled the Ronan High School track in an embrace of light – a shining beacon of hope for those who are fighting cancer and a reminder of how many bright souls have flickered out because of the disease.
On Friday Lake County Relay for Life raised money for the American Cancer Society by walking, sprinting, dancing, singing, eating, laughing and crying through the annual fundraiser.
“It’s truly a celebration,” community member Mark Nelson said as he placed luminara bags on the track. More than 500 bags lined the entire track, each with their own story.
“Mom, I’m so glad that God gave you a second chance and we have been able to share our journeys! I love you and you are an amazing Mom!” read one luminara signed by a person named Annie.
Other items of symbolic significance gave examples of battles and triumph. At the Salish Kootenai College booth, miniature tipi poles were decorated with ribbons that represented different types of cancer. Hair also hung from a tipi – a visual reminder of something else cancer takes away.
For some, the event was a way to honor those who lost their fight.
“I think we all know someone we’ve lost to cancer,” H&R Block team member Paula Weaver said. “It’s a good way for us to come together and commiserate. It’s nasty stuff.”
Weaver’s husband Derrell was a victim of renal sarcoma.
“He fought it for five years and it finally took him in 1999,” Weaver said.
The death came not long after the couple’s youngest daughter left home. The doctors said it was genetic, and a death sentence for men in the family.
It was a bitter twist of fate for the couple, who had wanted badly to have a son, but were blessed with all girls instead.
“To lose a spouse was one thing,” Weaver said. “To lose a child would have been another.”
Cancer remains the second leading cause of death in the United States and is projected to become the leading killer of Americans by 2030, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Currently, men have a 43 percent chance of contracting some form of the disease at some time in their lifetime, and a 22 percent chance of dying from it. The risk for women is slightly lower. Ladies have a 38 percent chance of contracting the disease and a 19 percent chance of dying from it. Heart disease is the only illness that claims more American lives each year.
In Lake County an average of 167 patients receive a cancer diagnosis annually, according to the CDC. Money raised by Relay for Life goes to support cancer research, support services, and other programs meant to search for a cure to the deadly disease.
