Post-relay: A personal account

I've posted my Relay For Life report on blogTO.com (please do check it out!), but thought I should add some notes here which I suspect might be too personal, long and photo-heavy for blogTO. :-)




My cousin Dan and his partner Crina were kind enough to give me a ride to and from E.T. Seton Park for Relay For Life, an overnight non-competitive relay whose goal is to raise funds for cancer research and community-based support services. Dan's father and son, Crina's cousin and one of Crina's co-workers were also on our team, which Dan named Team Hope.

Dan's father, by the way, is the Uncle John whom I mentioned in an earlier Blathering; he had a heart attack during a family Christmas party I attended, and also had a QUADRUPLE bypass heart operation earlier this year.



All of us had been affected by cancer in some way, either by losing a loved one or having friends or family who have been affected. Crina's experience, however, was more direct...



When we picked up our registration packages, I noticed that Crina (above, on the right) had a different t-shirt, and then I saw her ribbon. I had chatted briefly with Crina at relatives' gatherings, but never knew she was a cancer survivor herself! Crina works for Telus, and her company told her that they would match any pledges that she was able to raise. How cool is that?



When we arrived, we set up our base camp in Tent City and decorated our tents with signs (above: a photo taken partway through the sign-making process), and I brought plastic sunflowers to stick in the ground.



Here's a sign in honour of Crina's mom:



Some army guys (I have no idea if they're really in the army, but they dressed in fatigues and were incredibly disciplined and fit, so I'm assuming so) in the plot next to us set up the tent shown above. These guys ended up winning the Spirit Award, mainly because they RAN most of the relay (12 hours' worth), and many of them carried heavy backpacks and gear the whole way.



For me, the most moving part of the whole event was the Survivor Victory Lap ceremony, where the names of over 80 cancer survivor attendees (currently in treatment or in longterm recovery) were read out loud as they walked around the track once. Some were in wheelchairs, some were carried, and some were led by the hand, like the little girl below.



Then we started walking. As I walked, I sometimes read the names on some of the "luminaries" placed around the inner edge of the track. A luminary is a candle placed in some sand inside a paper bag, inscribed with the name of someone whose life has been touched by cancer, either loved ones lost or friends and family who have survived cancer. Like this one:



On the luminaries, "in honour of" was the phrase used to pay a tribute to cancer survivors, and "in memory of" for loved ones lost to cancer. As I mentioned in an earlier Blathering, you can buy luminaries before the event or at the event before the Luminaries ceremony.

Here's one for my Aunt Agnes from my uncle:



And here's one I dedicated to my mom:



As dusk fell, everyone was asked to stop walking/running, and we all watched as volunteers lit the candles in all the luminaries as a piper from the 48th Highlanders Regiment played, followed by a moment of silence.



I grieved for my mom, who died way too young, and other friends and family affected by cancer...but also celebrated the fact that some of them have survived as well. All around the track, many hugs were exchanged, many tears shed.



Walking around a track all night may sound incredibly boring, but the Relay of Life organizers did a fantastic job of keeping participants entertained. Below: Kuki Dube and a guitarist whose name I unfortunately didn't get:



I also enjoyed Amanda Bentley's performance (see below), and ended up buying her CD for $10, $5 of which was going to the Canadian Cancer Society. Amanda had great audience rapport, and got a bunch of us singing along on her songs. :-)



I've listed some of the many activities at the event in my blogTO report on Relay For Life, and here's a photo of one of them: Latin line-dancing lessons!



The yellow shirts, by the way, were the shirts worn by volunteers. The volunteers at this event were fantastic, I have to say, and helped in pretty much every aspect of the night, from food to registration to luminaries. See my blogTO report for more details.



I was astounded by the amount of food available for free to participants, and available throughout the night and next morning. The Food Tent was kept stocked by BBQ Brothers, Healthy Snacks, Pizza Hut, and Breakfast Foods. There was lots of water available (you had to bring your own water bottle) as well as coffee, tea, hot chocolate and Gatorade.

As the evening got cooler, I ended up putting on every layer that I had brought. Someone started a bonfire near the main stage, and a volunteer in the Food Tent (I don't know her name, but she was cheery through the whole night!) brought over marshmallows to roast.



Around 2 a.m., I got a surprise visit from my pals Scott and Walter! They suddenly appeared beside me as I walked, and they kept me company going around the track for a while. Thanks, guys...that meant a great deal to me.



Around 5 a.m., I saw a hint of daylight on the horizon:



I headed for the Food Tent, where some tired (but cheerful!) volunteers manned the breakfast tables:



I went to tell some of my team that breakfast was available in the tent and almost didn't see two of them in lawn chairs, buried beneath sleeping bags:



My Uncle John's the one on the left!

I had originally set a goal of raising $500 but reached that goal within a few hours of posting about my Relay For Life participation, and ended up with over three times that amount by the end of the Relay because of all your generosity. It wasn't so much the amount as the number of people who donated that floored me, though...family, friends and acquaintances, people I've met online but not in person, and several perfect strangers (but strangers no more :-)). I would list names here but I suspect at least a few would want to stay anonymous, so I'm just going to say THANK YOU SO MUCH! Team Hope raised a total of $3,342 this year.

And thanks very much to my cousin Dan for inviting me to be part of Team Hope. It's a night I'll never forget.

You can see the rest of my photos on Flickr and a selection in my blogTO post.







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