Relay for Life

Our awesome team poster designed by Angela... so artistic!

Angela & Jessica B making bracelets as one of our fun raisers

The popular tutus!

My two coworkers and friends, Corinne and Jennifer.

Corinne's sister Tiffany is battling breast cancer so we put her face in the place of "Rosie the Riveter" because she's are hero!

Here are the beautiful luminaries

Here are some great pictures of us SUPER tired after a long night...right before the relay ends

Linda and Angela aren't too tired to ham it up!

Some exhausted team members eating breakfast

...and Rachel finally crashed

We were able to participate in the Relay for Life at the end of June. This is a 24 hour Relay where someone from each team must be walking around the track at all times. It is all focused on raising money for the American Cancer Society as well as educating about different types of cancer. A big focus of the event is honoring those who are going through cancer treatments, have survived cancer, or who have passed away from cancer.

Our team was made up of a strange mix of friends and acquaintances who had different ties to cancer. One of my best friends from work had a sister who is 25 and going through chemo for breast cancer so she and all her sisters participated. Another girl from work came with her boyfriend, she had a mom and an aunt who died from cancer. Our team captain had leukemia as a toddler, and almost everyone on the team had some friend or family member who had been touched by the disease.

As you will see in the pictures we had a "Rosie the Riveter" theme to go with our team name,"No Battle Too Big." Each team did an on site fund raiser. Ours were these adorable tutus for little girls (and adults too). We called them Tutus for Tatas because we were raising money to fight against breast cancer. They were a hit!

I did the relay in honor of my friend Jessica Frailey Vannatta who died from cancer 2 years ago. Parts of the event were really fun... it's 24 hours of constant activity to help people stay awake, so there was lots to see and do. Rachel was running around like a crazy lady- all hyped up on energy from the event itself plus a little whacked out from her steroids due to the allergic reaction the week before. This came in handy when we needed a sales person for our tutu fundraiser and when we wanted to nap in the middle of the night and needed someone to keep walking around the track. To give a snapshot of what I mean, when my friend Corinne got up at 5am to walk her shift, Rachel was up with a boom box on her shoulder dancing around the track and yelling "rise and shine" to the various camp sites. It was good times.

On Saturday at dusk they do a luminaria ceremony to honor those who have passed away from cancer or who are cancer survivors. I made a luminary for Jessica. It was really powerful to walk around and see how many lives cancer has profoundly effected. It is such a symbol of The Fall. A disease taking over otherwise healthy organs and destroying lives in full swing. Young mothers, small children, men who loved their families, beautiful young women, someone's beloved grandfather, all destroyed by a disease. Linda and I walked around the track and talked about Jessica. I cried. It feels silly to have a flood of tears sparked by a paper bag with a friend's picture, but it was good to take the time to stop and miss her. Jessica was a very special friend in my life. Besides sharing many amazing times of our life together she was a kindred spirit, a vibrant persona, intelligent beyond what her blonde hair and bumbling ways would lead you to believe, a person of great talent, imagination and feeling and just completely and ridiculously funny. She is worth stopping to cry over, she is worth aching to miss, she is worth staying up for 24 hours with a crazy 15 year old on steroids to celebrate :-) My mom, dad and sister Emily showed up for this part of the relay along with Linda and Rachel allowed me to take the time to remember this dear friend. It's strange how life moves on but I am so thankful that she is with our Savior in a place with no disease or pain or tears. I wonder if she is going to start a Stomp Team in heaven?