KIBOSH ON CANCER

PALMER — Both those who have survived cancer and those who have not were honored at this weekend’s Mat-Su Relay for Life, an overnight outdoor event at Colony High School celebrating cancer survivorship that raised money for the American Cancer Society.

Julia Hart-Warner found out she had breast cancer in April 1992 just days after her husband was diagnosed with leukemia. He died four months later.

Refusing radiation treatment or chemotherapy, she fought against all odds and went on to beat the cancer. That was until 2005 when it came back with a vengeance.

With a family history of cancer, Julia wasn’t going down without a fight and, again, she defied all odds. Since then, she has devoted her time and energy fighting for other cancer survivors.

At what has become one of the biggest fund-raising charity events in the Mat-Su Valley, more than 700 cancer survivors, loved ones and supporters of cancer research pitched their tents, put on their walking shoes and made a night of it on Colony High School’s track Friday night, all participating in the ACS’s Relay for Life.

Hart-Warner said as a cancer survivor, she knows she could again fall victim to her illness, but today chooses to live free and not in fear. This is her second Relay for Life in Alaska, having moved to the Valley in 2006, and since has become the cancer survivor chair for the event.

“I had to pull up my bootstraps with this thing,” she said. “When I was diagnosed in 2005 with stage two and three breast cancer, I thought, ‘God bless me, I will survive this again.’ It’s a miracle that I did.”

But not all was solemn. Games, including Sumo wrestling, pie throwing and bubble gum contests, and men walking in drag were just a few ways participants passed the time away during the 19-hour event. Team members took turns walking in honor of a cancer survivor or in memory of someone who had died from the devastating disease.

Karaoke music and live entertainment, as well as various activities and community fellowship, provided diversion into the evening.

In the registration tent, tables carried educational materials and reminders that cancer awareness and prevention was just as much a part of Relay for Life as the fellowship that surrounded it.

According to the ACS Web site, nearly 1,000 Alaskans will succumb to cancer-related diseases in 2008 (Cancer.org).

“I have a strong belief in faith. Working through the challenges through helping others and a strong support system. I’ve met women at the hospital just beginning their battle and tell them my story. The biggest thing I tell them is that they have to beat the fear factor first. You can beat breast cancer. I’m here as proof,” Hart-Warner said.

Inside Julia’s track-side tent, a plaque sums up her experience. It read, “To always be at my destination, I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails.”

At 8 p.m., walkers began the first lap around the 440-yard long track, lead by Cub Scout Pack 354. Signs supporting breast, prostate, colon and blood cancer-fighting efforts, to name a few, waved high as walkers took to the tarmac.

Mat-Su Regional Medical Center and Providence Alaska Medical Center supplied medical information on treatment and prevention of cancer, adding more education to the cause.

Elizabeth Ripley, marketing director at Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, said the grassroots efforts from medical staff at this year’s Relay for Life went above and beyond the call of duty in spreading awareness at the event.

“As medical professionals, we see cancer at both ends of the spectrum,” Ripley said. “It’s very painful. Penny is the torch bearer for this cause. It’s just extraordinary the energy she puts into an event such as this one.”

Penny Gillen, event chair for Relay for Life, said it was no secret why she got involved with the annual ACS project. Many friends and family members close to her have been stricken with cancer.

“As usual, this is about awareness and raising more funds for research” Gillen said. “If we had enough money, who knows, maybe we’d have a cure by now. This event helps, but it’s not enough.”

Gillen said $106,000 was raised last year from Relay for Life’s fundraising efforts and she hopes this year’s goal of $150,000 will set a record.

All funds are allocated to ACS for local and national cancer research, education, prevention and local services for cancer survivors and their families.

Dr. Tricia Carrigan from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said sometimes it is cancer tragedies that prompt people to take advantage of early screening, prevention methods and education on cancer.

“Our goal as doctors is to get people to come in for early detection screenings,” Carrigan said. “We can’t stop it, but we sure can prevent it. Breast cancer research has proven this.”

Along with prevention came the harsh realities of cancer at Relay for Life. Equally present at Friday’s event were those who had lost loved ones to the battle.

“My dad taught us all to be fighters, regardless of the battle,” said Regina Henneman of Team Stubbie. Her father, Reginald “Stubbie” Stubbs lost his battle with prostate and colon cancer last year.

Stubbie was diagnosed in 1992, undergoing a series of often debilitating chemotherapy and radiotherapy procedures. The cancer eventually ate away at his nose, with doctors replacing missing cartilage with bone from his ribs.

Doctor’s had given Stubbie just a few months to live, but he survived 15 more years until finally surrendering last November.

Henneman said she has since made sure no one forgets who he was and the courage of his battle. She recruited her sisters and friends for Relay for Life, honoring her father’s memory with signs, posters and T-shirts bearing Stubbie’s life story, personal thoughts and loads of pictures.

“If people had met him, then they knew how wonderful he was,” Henneman said from inside her tent along the windy track at Colony High.

Team Stubbie members proudly displayed pictures of Stubbie in a timeline of accomplishment, Henneman herself wearing his decorative red veterans baseball cap tight on her head.

“He was the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back,” Henneman said. “My dad always told us to stop and take the time to smell the flowers. I think we’re doing that with remembering him here.”

As midnight rolled around and the sun set, the Ceremony of Hope commemorated those honored.

Hundreds of decorated white lunch sacks one by one were filled with luminary candles, lighting up the names and prayers that were decorated on their sides.

Names of those who survived and those remembered.

Up in the Colony High bleachers, the word “HOPE” was spelled out with several luminaries as a sole bagpiper led a lap of silence for the walkers, playing “Amazing Grace.”

As the luminary lap was under way, some released several sky lanterns above the large crowd as the names were read over the loud speakers.

The traditional Ceremony of Hope brought in a new day with a glowing display, proof for some that it is better to light a candle than sit in darkness.

“Cancer can kill people, but it can’t kill the love, the families and the memories of those left behind,” Henneman said. “My dad gave me a big heart, and we’re here to share it with everyone else. We are here to fight cancer.”

Contact J.J. Harrier at valleylife@frontiersman.com, or 352-2269.