‘Slam Cancer’ --- at last --- with two June events!
These events are vital toward the efforts to raise money for the American Cancer Society after the coronavirus pandemic severely affected both the relay and the fight against this insidious disease.
The events will be important, not only to raise money to help one of the non-profits that was severely affected by COVID-19’s limitations and lockdowns last year, but also to renew community awareness for the need for people to get screened for various cancers, procedures that were largely ignored a year ago as the pandemic raged.
So, consider attending either or both of the events, and-or to donate to the cause at www.relayforlife.org/greaterattleboroma.
This column was published by The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA on May 18, 2021.
The Attleboro Public Library, in conjunction with the 23rd annual Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro to benefit the American Cancer Society, in April held a poetry-essay writing event to encourage people to share their experiences of how cancer has affected them. Called “Slam Cancer: How I’ve been touched by the disease,” the purpose was to raise community awareness about the need to fund cancer research, treatment and patient care.
That became especially important this year after the 2020 relay was severely restricted by the coronavirus pandemic. Normally a fundraiser that attracts hundreds of volunteers and participants to a local high school track --- and that in 2019 raised more than $150,000 --- last year’s relay was held virtually except for a small event in late August on the lawn of the Attleboro Arts Museum.
As a result, the event raised only a little more than $60,000. The drop in donations wasn’t confined to the local event, which draws people from most Sun Chronicle area communities; donations nationwide fell by 50 percent last year, the cancer society reported.
A grimmer indication of the pandemic’s negative effect on cancer is this alarming fact from ACS CAN, the cancer society’s advocacy arm: “From February to mid-April 2020, the rate of some cancer screenings fell by over 80 percent. The COVID pandemic led to many cancer exams being canceled as others were afraid to visit a doctor’s office.” The fallout was devastating, ACS CAN said, as many people were diagnosed with more advanced forms of cancers than they would have been had screenings taken place uninterrupted.
That’s why the local relay committee is partnering with the library on the Slam Cancer writing event. It’s also why the committee plans to hold a pair of smaller in-person events in June.
We’re hoping to have a drive-thru relay from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 19 at Norton High School to honor survivors and remember cancer victims, as well as a separate event from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, June 26, to be held in Attleboro’s Balfour Riverwalk Park, adjacent to the library. At that celebration, people will be invited to read their Slam Cancer submissions.
That’s good news for those striving to beat cancer, because re-establishing a sense of community is vital to the relay for life’s purpose. Ever since the first Greater Attleboro event at North Attleboro High School in 1999, participants have been motivated by deeply personal stories that have pushed them to return yearly in their quest to Slam Cancer.
The relay also has offered a chance for people to remember their loved ones affected by the disease and to commiserate with others. People have always found an empathetic soul to talk to or a willing shoulder to cry on.
Over the years, friendships were formed and children went from being pushed in a stroller around the track to participating and volunteering at the relay, which moved to Norton High School in 2018.
I’ve been part of the Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro for all but its first year as a team member, captain and volunteer. Like my fellow participants, the desire to see the disease eradicated continues to motivate me. Here’s why:
***
One of the saddest aspects of doing the relay has always been when someone who
appeared one year on your list of luminaria --- candles lit for cancer
survivors or in memory of victims --- as a survivor must be remembered as a
victim the next year. That’s happened far too often, but one of the most
heartbreaking examples involved a cousin with whom I had just renewed strong
ties.
Jack, the youngest of three brothers, grew up in Ontario, Canada, but like his
two older brothers, he became a Boston Red Sox fan because my Dad and I would
take them to Fenway Park during their family’s annual summer Boston visits.
In later years, as we were busy raising our families, it became harder to stay
in touch. We saw Jack during a visit to Ontario in 2001, and then met twice in
2012: I took Jack and his family to McCoy Stadium to see the PawSox in July and
we visited them in Ontario in August.
Two summers later, Jack and his family met us in Quebec City, where we had gone
on vacation. We were trying to work out another joint summer trip when Jack was
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 2017. He was one of my survivor
luminaria in that June’s relay, but he lost his cancer battle that October and
has been one of my memorial luminaria ever since.
My experience unfortunately isn’t unique, because cancer --- despite the
COVID-19 pandemic --- remains one of the most insidious and equal-opportunity
diseases. By that I mean it’s often relentless as it affects women, men, girls
and boys of all ages, religions and races.
That’s why I continue to relay, and it’s why I hope you’ll consider joining us
at one of the events planned for June so we can Slam Cancer once and for all.
Larry Kessler is a retired Sun Chronicle local news editor and
a member of the Relay For Life of Greater Attleboro volunteer organizing
committee. He can be reached at larrythek65@gmail.com and he blogs at larrytheklineup.blogspot.com
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