Relay For Life Runs Miles Toward A Cure

BERKELEY – This is a race where prizes are awarded before anyone steps foot on the track.

The reason for this is that so many of the participants are already several laps into their own run. The Berkeley-Lacey Relay For Life celebrated cancer survivors and caretakers as well as raising money during a weekend-long event.

Groups gathered at Veterans Park in Berkeley. The opening ceremony featured medals given out to survivors, with an explanation of how many years they’ve been cancer-free and the type of cancer they had. Some had multiple types. There were also awards given out to caregivers, who are often the unseen and unsung heroes behind the scenes.

Staying overnight has several meanings. One of which has to do with showing that there is dawn after the night – light follows darkness. The other represents the round-the-clock struggle that families have with this disease, event lead Robyn Griffith said.

Relays support the American Cancer Society, which in turn funds research, endorses policies (such as smoke-free restaurants), and supports families who are plunged into financial straits because of the diagnosis.

The theme of this year’s relay was “Woodstock,” which was also a time when like-minded people spent an overnight in a field for a good cause. Some people wore tie-dyed clothing and decorated their booths with a hippie theme. The overhead music was thoroughly 60s, and some songs had deeper meaning if you thought about it. Sly and the Family Stone’s “I Am Everyday People” was about equality but it could also be taken a different way: those living with cancer in their lives could be you or me.

“By the end of 2024, there will be approximately 2.1 million new cases in the United States,” Griffith told the crowd. Of these, 610,000 will be fatal. It’s the second leading cause of death. Heart disease is first, but 1 in 4 cancer patients also have heart disease.

In order to fight this, fundraising like this needs to take place.

“We can’t do it without each and every one of you here today,” she said.

Berkeley Mayor John Bacchione said that “the evil of cancer took my best friend – my father – in 2005.” It also claimed the business administrator of the town, John Camera, just days before the relay.

Berkeley’s former mayor Carmen Amato – now a State Senator – had been involved in the relay for years in honor of his father, who passed 21 years ago. He emotionally recalled losing his friend, John Camera.

“I think of him, and I think of my father, and I think of all who were lost, and I remember to keep fighting,” he said.

Lacey Deputy Mayor Peter Curatolo also works for the Ocean County Health Department, and had fighting words. “We won’t stop meeting here every year until we put our boot on the throat of cancer and watch it take its last breath.”

The first walk of the relay is reserved for survivors, and they took a solemn but proud lap around the concert area of the park.

One of the survivors was nicknamed “Legendary Mary,” who told her story of the 9 years she’s been fighting cancer, and how chemotherapy impacted her heart. She’s had 2/3 of her femur eaten away by cancer, but she stood up before the crowd to give inspiration.

“My journey’s been rough. I have good days and bad days. Everyone has good days and bad days – even if they don’t have cancer,” she said. “I never stop thinking positive.”

She’s been keeping active and joined a bowling league. She is now undergoing a new kind of therapy that didn’t exist when she was first diagnosed.

Barry Bendar, one of the organizers, followed her speech by saying that the new therapy was probably at least partially funded by money raised at a Relay For Life.