Relay for Life 2017

On Friday night, we held our annual Relay for Life in my hometown. This Relay was my 10th year to participate and my 4th year as a committee member! I absolutely love this event and everything it stands for! :) Throughout the evening, we celebrate our survivors, remember those who have lost their battle, and then we fight back against this terrible disease!

This year's theme was based off of a Disney theme - Wish Upon A Cure and I loved all of the details that went into the event! I had no idea of this ahead of time, but the event ended with the goodbye theme from Mickey Mouse Club ("now it's time...to say goodbye...to all our company..."). Adorable.

As an added surprise, I woke up bright and early on Friday morning (3:30 a.m. as a matter of fact) with a pretty rough bout of a stomach virus. Awesome. Brayden had been sick a few days before and passed it on to me. Luckily, I was able to stay home from work that morning to rest and hopefully regain some of my energy. By 4 p.m., I was feeling slightly better....by slightly better I mean I felt about a 3 or 4 out of 10...but I couldn't miss this event. The committee saved the Disney theme for me this year since I was on maternity leave and not super heavily involved with last year's event. I seriously couldn't miss out!

This team ALWAYS wins the campsite award as their site is always above and beyond amazing! 

Our team won second place in the t-shirt contest! Our shirts were based off the Disney castle that played before old-school Disney moves. We used four main colors as our castle blocks and each color represented the cancer sites we treat the most in our center! 

Here's a better look at our shirts and my little relayer! It's hard to believe he was SO tiny last year (just about 5 weeks old)!

Another team contest is the bake-off. Cakes are judged on appearance and taste. This Cinderella carriage won all around! Isn't it beautiful?!

Celebrate 

After opening ceremonies, we kicked things off with our Survivor lap!

Each purple shirt represents a cancer survivor. I LOVE seeing the sea of purple shirts every year! It really validates what we do on a day in and day out basis!

After the survivor lap, caregivers joined in the walk around the track. We love what we do!

In the middle of all the festivities, one of my students from church graduated in the building right behind us. I was able to see her and take a picture with her after graduation! So proud of her!

Brayden was such a trooper and stayed for a good bit of the evening. He even tried his first bite of fried pickles...and he liked it! Relay food is pretty amazing, but I'm sad I couldn't partake in any of it due to the way I felt all day. Ugh. Next year.....I'm coming for you, Relay food!

Remember

At 9 p.m., my favorite part of the evening took place, our luminiaria ceremony. All of the lights in our circle grounds and generators were turned off. This ceremony is an incredibly reverent ceremony as we remember those who have lost the fight against cancer and honor those who are surviving.

In total, the ceremony lasts about 10 minutes but is one of the big take-aways from the entire event. 

Over 700 bags lined the track, each with a face or a name of a cancer patient. Amazing grace was played live from stage and a slide show presentation of pictures was given. This ceremony always brings tears. Always.

Fight Back

The remainder of the evening was spent playing games, fundraising, hanging out, and having a great time with friends and fellow relayers. I'm happy to say that we raised almost $130,000 total and are just a few thousand short of our goal for 2017! I'm excited to see our new theme for 2018 and what the year has in store! 

Oh yes, and my boss also talked me into going on our local news station with him during the week of relay to discuss our event! As most of you know, I'm NOT a fan of live events and they scare the daylights out of me. However, I made the decision a few years ago not to hold back, to come out of my shell a bit more, and go with the opportunities that are presented before me...so I agreed and I'm so happy I did! It was actually a lot of fun! If you'd like to see our interview, you can check that out here! :)

Have you ever participated in a Relay for Life event? Any "theme" ideas for us for next year?

Relay for Life 2015

Friday night was our area’s 2015 Relay for Life. A few changes were made this year that I think were for the better – one of those changes being the time range of the event. Instead of relaying until 6 a.m., we stopped at midnight and held our closing ceremonies. This was my first time to ever stay all the way until the end (because Saturday morning’s are long run days) and I loved it – the teams seemed to love it, too!

 

Our event was mentioned on the news all throughout the day on  Thursday and Friday. As we were setting up for the event, I was asked to be on the live at 5 broadcast.  If you read Friday’s post, then you know that “live” things freak me out. Well, I did it and all was fine and I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be! Baby steps…I’m getting there!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – we have a fantastic committee! Their hard work and dedication to the fight is incredible.

At opening ceremonies, this sweet little survivor shared her leukemia story and sang a song that she wrote while undergoing chemotherapy. There wasn’t a dry eye around, it was incredibly touching. They shouldn’t have to make survivor shirts in kid sizes…that just breaks my heart.

Survivor lap!

My hospital team joined in for the caregiver lap. This portion is one of my favorite parts of Relay – seeing all of the survivors on the track, knowing that our work is making a difference!

Another favorite part of relay is the food. In SWLA, we have GOOD relay food! This isn’t your average ballpark nachos – no, it’s pulled pork nachos…what?! We also had fajitas, fried pickles, crawfish etouffee, burgers, pulled pork wraps with slaw, funnel cakes, a multitude of sweets, the list goes on and on! You definitely don’t leave our relay hungry!

My other favorite part of Relay is the luminiaria ceremony. OK OK I’ll admit, I just love it ALL!!

Our committee had a vision of “Hope” spelled out somewhere on our grounds. As an “ah-ha” moment, our logistics chair came up with this idea literally the night before. Isn’t it amazing?! You could see it all the way at the road!

During the luminaria ceremony, bags and torches are lit in memory of those who lost their battle and in honor of those who are continuing the fight. All of the generators and lights are turned off and you can literally hear a pin drop. It’s such a touching time to remember and reflect.

My grandfather passed away from lung cancer in 2000 and that’s part of the reason I went into oncology nursing. I also make a luminaria bag for him every year. He loved flowers and used to always give a handful of sweet peas to me every time I went to visit, hence the field of sweet peas on this year’s bag! :)

Before I knew it, midnight rolled around and it was time for closing ceremonies! I love this picture – our MC’s took selfies at opening and closing!

Walking the final lap of the night.

Melissa so graciously agreed to spend part of her birthday weekend with us by keeping track of our accounting for the night! I appreciate her so much!

I made it home and in bed around 2 a.m. , woke up at 7 a.m. for a run with Heather, then went back to bed and woke up at 2 p.m. Y’all, I was TIRED…but it was worth every step!!

Does your area have a Relay for Life? If so, have you ever attended/been a part?