Relay For Life

“We see love in every flame, like a never ending chain, and we know that every candle has a name.”

This past weekend I took part in the American Cancer Society’s “Relay For Life”. I did it in honor of my Uncle Rob who passed away this past year from Lung Cancer. I was a part of team “Family Ties” and so far we have raised a total of $8,500.00 to help find a cure for cancer! To raise that amount we had an array of fundraisers leading up to the event such as happy hour events, a car wash, a cheesecake sale and of course generous donations. We also made a good chuck of that amount at the relay event itself.

Our “Family Ties” booth was a jumping one! We were the only booth to sell balloons for the memorial balloon launch. People could purchase a colored balloon for $1.00 and write a personal message on it. Also one of our teammates is a photographer and took and printed out old-time photos for children. In addition we also sold raffle tickets for themed baskets, and had another separate raffle for a signed Mario Lemieux hockey puck, an NFL football signed by 15 different Pittsburgh Steelers and a signed Lance Armstrong book. We also sold hot shredded beef sandwiches and Italian hoagies in addition to different drinks. Brewster’s Ice Cream also teamed up with us and provided a scoop of ice cream for a donation. Team “Family Ties” made over $1,200.00 on the day of the relay alone!! Woohoo!

Activities were going on all day at the different booths. Some had games while others had crafts. One team had a manicurist on site doing nail art while another team had a local artist come and paint live portraits (more on him later!!) but the American Cancer Society also had some events taking place at different hours. One that was pretty funny was the “Minute To Win It” game, a spin-off of the actual show. Man, I wish I would have signed up to do it because I think it would have been so much fun! Another event was the “Mr. Relay Pageant”…lol! Check out Mr. Family Ties…

Super cool to see! This team raised a ton of money on these paintings…I heard the Troy Polamalu one went for $250.00! It’s great to see people with such amazing talents giving back for good causes 🙂

As I mentioned before, our team sponsored a Balloon Launch. My cousin Beth manned this part of our booth all day long with the help of her fiancee, Andy.

As the sun went down everyone gathered around a separate field where luminaries were being set up all day. Each luminary had a name on it in memory of someone whose health was affected by cancer. We had bags to memorialize my Uncle…

So many times throughout the day I found myself saying silent prayers thanking God for my own personal health and the health of my immediate family. I saw so many names on those bags – most of whom were taken away by some form of cancer. It really made me realize how lucky I truely am.

One of the most empowering things I saw all day were the people wearing purple shirts…those people are the survivors who fought back and won the battle against cancer. There were children my nieces and nephews age wearing those shirts. There were people my age wearing those shirts. And there were people my parents age wearing those shirts. I just felt so thankful that it was none of us wearing them. It’s kind of bittersweet really. A part of me feels so sad for them and all they’ve been through but another part of me feels so happy for them that they won the fight and were able to be there that day. I had to keep in mind all the people who were there wishing their loved ones could be there wearing those purple shirts…

My day spent at the Relay was a real eye-opener into how blessed my life has been. I know that any second of any day it could easily be me being diagnosed with a form of cancer. Hopefully this post will make you realize how blessed you’ve been with good health…:-)