Lighted lap an emotional journey

Resslin' Around by Casey Ressler

Ask any track star, and they'll tell you that 400 meters around a standard track is hardly draining. But for anybody who was at Colony High School around midnight Friday night, they know that emotionally, there isn't a bigger lap in life.

As lighted bags - each one decorated in celebration of a cancer survivor or in honor of one of its many victims - lined the track and bleachers, the American Cancer Society's annual Relay for Life took a somber turn, as the remembrance lap began.

The only sound that filled the breezy nighttime air was that of bagpipes sounding &#8220Amazing Grace,” and the shuffle of hundreds of people walking. It's one of the hardest laps you'll ever walk in your life.

Each lighted bag represents an emotional battle that lasts, in many cases, years for families. Each name represents another person who has fought against the disease, sometimes five, six, seven times. Behind those names are families who have gone through some of life's darkest hours.

Some names on those bags represent people who are just beginning the fight against a form of cancer, a scary time when uncertainty fills your being. Some names represent those who have tragically lost their battle. Those names are dads, moms, sons, daughters, friends - and chances are, you know a lot of those names personally, because the disease certainly doesn't discriminate against young or old, male or female, upper or lower class.

Some names on those bags show how hope can help a person battle. Some names show that in this battle, sometimes hope isn't enough. Some of the names show that with modern technology accelerating research techniques at an amazing rate, anything is possible in winning the fight. Some names are proof that miracles can happen.

Each step of the luminary lap, and every lap of the Relay for Life, represents another step toward finding a cure for the disease, which is the most important thing.

Every dollar - every penny, for that matter - helps in the fight against this disease. The chances are good that some day, cancer will affect your life in some way, be it through a family member, a friend - our yourself.

Cancer didn't mean a whole lot to me until a good friend passed away from it after a short fight. Then, my aunt and my mother were diagnosed shortly thereafter. Within months, cancer consumed my family's life and we learned everything we could about this disease.

I watched my mother battle through a mastectomy and 16 rounds of chemotherapy. I saw her bald, her body so weak that she couldn't take another round of chemo. But she didn't quit, and she never gave up. And now, three years later, she is full of life, an inspiration for my family.

At the end of the luminary lap, the bagpipes quit and the tears are wiped away from the cheeks of the walkers.

The emotional lap comes to a close, but the emotional battle against cancer never ends.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor.