BERKELEY – Despite weather that kept them on their toes, cancer survivors and their loved ones marched in Veterans Park during the annual Berkeley-Lacey Relay For Life.
The relay was a mix of feelings. It was a solemn remembrance in a beautiful park. It was a celebration of life with the sounds of kids playing baseball nearby. Many wore purple shirts designating them as cancer survivors. It looked like a field of flowers.
The event begins with a survivors’ luncheon from noon until 2 p.m. This is followed by a kick-off ceremony and the first laps. Laps are sometimes themed. The first walk of the relay is reserved for survivors, for example. There’s also a lap for caregivers – the unseen and unsung heroes behind the scenes.
Event lead Robyn Griffith said during the opening ceremony that the event brings Berkeley and Lacey together to “support those who are battling cancer and to remember those not with us anymore.”
Senator Carmen Amato (R-9th), formerly the mayor of Berkeley, lost his father to cancer more than two decades ago. He spoke about how the work that the volunteers are doing is vitally important to families, caregivers, and the patients themselves.
Mayor John Bacchione, whose father also passed from cancer, said there were a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, showing that they are surviving this affliction. “May God continue to walk with you on your path to recovery,” he said.
Lacey Mayor Peter Curatolo, who is the Coordinator of the Community Health Services Division at Ocean County Health Department, presented a proclamation from the Township Committee for the Relay. When it comes to fighting cancer, he said “let’s not say why we can’t but how we can.”
Volunteers and officials took the stage to support those fighting cancer. (Photo by Chris Lundy)
Assemblyman Gregory Myhre (R-9th), and Berkeley Council members James Byrnes and Michael Signorile also addressed the crowd, as did several cancer survivors. “Legendary Mary” appeared again this year, telling her story of the last 10 years, which began with a breast cancer diagnosis.
Years later, it had spread. She used a cane but considering one of her femurs was replaced with concrete, that’s not too bad.
“Most people don’t survive what I had, let alone not be in a nursing home,” she said. “Every day is a gift. Every single person has good days and bad days whether you have cancer or not. My bad days might look different.”
DJ Charles Hassell got the day started. Julia Drewes sang the National Anthem and Anthony Esposito led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.
Vendors around the track sold lemonade and organized games. The theme this year was sports, although the relay wasn’t a race. Not in any traditional sense. It was more about crossing the finish line together.
Cancer survivor “Legendary Mary” gives a pep talk before the first lap. (Photo by Chris Lundy)
Signs set up along the course served as a memoriam for those who passed. The signs also thanked donors and told the history of the Relay For Life.
The relay got its inspiration in 1985, when Dr. Gordon Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, raising money to help the American Cancer Society. The walk was about 83.6 miles and he raised $27,000. The Relay has continually been an overnight event since then. No one walks for 24 hours straight, though. Just as no one walks alone. They take turns, and that’s why it’s a relay.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of that life-changing first fundraiser.
In 2012, Dr. Klatt was diagnosed with stomach cancer and took his first lap as a survivor. He ultimately passed two years later due to heart failure at the age of 71.
For more information on how to help, or how to get help, visit cancer.org.
The rain didn’t make it a very pleasant outdoor event. It changed how they had to do the luminary ceremony, for example. But rain is a part of life, and it helps the flowers grow.
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