Heather Sagvold is a cancer survivor and has been a caregiver for two years.  She has been a participant in the Relay For Life of Lisbon since 2000.  Her Relay For Life experience is a long list of various positions, including Team Member, Youth and Advocacy chair, Survivorship Co-Chair, Survivor Speaker, Lead Ambassador, and more.  She was an American Cancer Society Ambassador at the 2006 Celebration on the Hill 2 in Washington, D.C. and she will be her local event's Chairperson in 2008.

Heather has a history of cancer in her family.  Her mom is a 2-year breast cancer survivor.  Her father is a 3-year colon cancer survivor, and she has two uncles who have also survived colon cancer.

Heather remembers her first Survivor's Lap when her mom traveled 1,500 miles to walk with her.  "I was holding my mom's hand walking around the track and saw my husband standing on the sidelines cheering us on with tears rolling down his face.  I will never forget that moment, and the love that I felt for him at that very moment."  Danielle's uncle was also walking in his first Survivor's lap that day.

Heather has also lost members of her family to cancer.  She uses Relay For Life to Remember her grandfather, an uncle, and both of her grandmothers.  Her grandfather was her 1st experience with cancer.  "I was 14 yrs old and helped to take care of him for the last 1 1/2 yrs of his life.  He was my hero and my best friend."  He taught her to believe in herself, never give up, and always fight for what was right," she said. 

Heather feels that Relay For Life empowers people to fight back in small ways like  changing a eating habit or wearing sunscreen to fighting back in a big way like support and encouragement to quit smoking, or get a cancer screening test.