A bit of rain Friday morning cleared for a sunny start to the 2008 Faulkner County Relay for Life at Estes Stadium at the University of Central Arkansas.
Teams had decked out their tents in themes of all kinds, and many were selling concessions in an effort to raise more funds for cancer research. The Relay for Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, and teams hold fundraisers in advance of converging at the big event. The overnight relay is symbolic of the fact that "cancer never sleeps." Team members take turns walking throughout the night, and activities keep the event hopping until the sun comes up.
Sherri Hope of Conway lost her husband, Mark, to cancer five years ago. He had melanoma. This year several people from her church, Prince Street Church of Christ, decided to start a team together. They had attended Relay in the past. Her daughter, Erin, and a friend, Maura Ferrell, were co-captains of the team. They chose "Lord of the Rings" as their theme, and some of the team members were dressed in Middle Earth costumes.
"This year we decided (having a team) would be a way we could contribute to raise money for research," Sherri Hope said. "Several people in our congregation are either cancer victims or cancer survivors. We just wanted to honor them in that way."
One team had a large military-type tent with red crosses on the top, reminiscent of the television sitcom M.A.S.H. Their theme was "M.A.S.H. cancer." Conway First Church of the Nazarne had a "Blues Brothers" theme with the slogan "We're on a mission from God To find a cure."
Bob Lynch was captain of that team. He said the church first started taking a team to Relay three years ago.
"In our Sunday school class, every Sunday we were praying for people (with cancer). We decided we should be doing something. We decided to put feet to the prayer."
He added several church members have recently been diagnosed with cancer.
"Every year I come out here and it's so much work I think, 'I don't know if I'm going to do this again.' Then someone new to the team says, 'When we do this next year, this is what we should do.' We do it to honor the survivors and to remember the ones we've lost, and also to raise money," he said.
Sunny Morse, a member of the team, said her husband, Danny, was celebrating both his 65th birthday and being a cancer survivor on Friday. He was diagnosed several years ago with kidney cancer and had several reoccurrences. It spread to his liver and other organs, she said.
"He fought it with Dr. Tsuda's help," Sunny Morse said. "It not only affects the person with cancer, it affects the whole family," she said. "But he's been cancer free for four or five years, so we're doing pretty good."
UCA President Lu Hardin addressed the crowd gathered at the stadium.
"I'm so proud of Conway, and I'm so proud of Faulkner County, because this is one of the largest and best Relays for Life in Arkansas," he said. Hardin, who has been a cancer survivor almost five years, said the Relay is "a tribute to survivors and families of survivors."
He said the American Cancer Society in Arkansas last year received $1.7 million for cancer research.
"As trite as it may sound, your presence here will save lives in just a few years," he said. He added that, until he became involved with the American Cancer Society, he did not know it also provides services such as paying an electric bill for someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer and cannot afford to pay the bill, or buying a wig for a chemotherapy patient who cannot afford the wig.
"As glamorous and important as research is ... in just a few days, someone will get their electric bill paid, and someone will get a wig who couldn't afford it because of your presence here."
Hardin concluded by saying among the children present at the stadium Friday night, some would see an effective cure for cancer in their lifetime.
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
