I first got involved with Relay at my job. My good friend Brenda said she had done relay and it was a blast. The spring after that first relay, my mother was diagnosed with "small-cell" lung cancer. Needless to say, relay took on a whole new meaning. Nine months of chemo and radiation--Mom lost her fight. She passed on to Glory on Jan. 11, 2002. Five years to the day of us losing my Aunt Betty-mom's sister to the same disease. I helped in Relay for the next few years.
I missed our Relay in June, 2005--the day of the Relay I was being released from the hospital after having a large fibroid removed. They found cancer in the fibroid, so my utuerus was taken as well as 10 lymph nodes. And was tagged by the doctor as a "cancer patient in remission". Leaving the hospital, I begged my sister to take me just to the end of the street from the hospital to stop at the Relay. She stood her ground and I went home. Since then I've had one other surgery for a tumor on an ovary(no cancer was found). I've had clean screenings for the last 3 years.
