Time is now to support Relay for Life

To the Editor,

What started as one man walking around a track in Tacoma, Wash., 30 years ago this spring has grown into the world’s largest movement to fight back against cancer.

Today, more than four million people participate in American Cancer Society Relay For Life events in 6,000 communities worldwide. The Gogebic County Relay For Life is one of them, and I want to encourage people from every part of our community to get involved. Plans are underway for the American Cancer Society event, set for Aug. 2015. And don’t worry, there is no running involved!

We have made tremendous progress in recent years. The five-year survival rate for all cancers has climbed to 68 percent. The Relay For Life event celebrates this. We also know there is more work to do to finish the fight once and for all. Community volunteers are the backbone of this movement, and we need more to join our team. Together, our efforts will help save lives by funding groundbreaking research and increasing our understanding of prevention and early detection.

The Relay For Life program also helps to fund important support for families facing cancer and ensures cancer patients’ voices are heard on important public policy issues. This year it’s especially important that we get people to volunteer for the event, as we’re saying goodbye to Carole Lillar, who has acted as the lead of our event planning team for the last 3 years.

Carole has put her heart and soul in to leading this event and on behalf of the American Cancer Society and all of our volunteers we want to thank her for her commitment to the fight against cancer. She looks forward to enjoying the event as a team captain for her Bessemer-Wakefield VFW relay team.

Now is the time for individuals, families, clubs, faith-based groups and businesses in Gogebic County to step up and help finish the fight against cancer by participating in the Relay For Life. Several critical positions on our leadership team are still unfilled.

Celebrate survivors. Remember loved ones no longer here. Pledge to fight back against this disease. I invite everyone to form a team and volunteer for the American Cancer Society and the Relay For Life event today.

Visit relayforlife.org or call 1-800-227- 2345 for more information about local opportunities.

Stephanie Swartzendruber

Specialist, Relay For Life American Cancer Society

Hancock