Relay For Life

On Friday night the girl's high school held their first ever Relay for Life. Relay for Life is a 12 hour relay used to raise money for cancer research. You get together teams of 10 - each team member is responsible for raising $100.
Huron's relay ran from Friday at 7pm until Saturday at 7am. Shawn and I went to the school for the opening ceremonies. It was so inspiring to see the survivors in their yellow shirts.

Katie's grade 4 teacher developed breast cancer the year Katie was in her class. Mrs. Lip was there on Friday to share her story and also to celebrate her official survivor status- she has been cancer free for 5 years now. She was a big influence in Katie's life and it was great to see her. Different classes in the school and in the community raised money for the walk. One of Mrs Lip's students donated her hair for wigs for cancer patients- she raised over $1700.00 herself.After some speech's and dance numbers we headed out to the track for the survivors lap. We stood on the sideline and cheered on as these courageous people walked around the track.

As the night progressed we were able to buy luminary bags to remember ways cancer has touched those in our lives. As it got darker the bags are lit up and placed around the track- it is a very emotional sight to see the bags all glowing, lighting the way for the walkers. You need to have at least one team member walking the track all night long- the school had all sorts of activities and entertainment for the people who were not walking, from games and movies in the gym, to bands in the cafe, all the tents set up in the field for kids to hang out in. What a wonderful experience to be involved in.

We are very lucky in the fact that cancer has not really been involved in our lives ( knock on wood for that). Both of my grandmothers died from cancer but they were older and in England so I wasn't involved in the care. Shawn's grandmother and Grandfather both died from cancer when Shawn was very young so he doesn't remember anything about it. I know we are blessed with good health in our families and I don't take that for granted.I was glad to be apart of an event that provides hope for the future- we can find a way to beat this disease!

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