The Relay For Life movement is dedicated to helping communities attack cancer.
Through funds donated, time given, or awareness raised, our communities are teaming up - virtually or in person - to make a difference.
When we rally together in the fight against cancer, we can accomplish anything.
Matagorda County has raised over 1 million dollars to fight cancer thru previous Relays.
The last Relay was in 2019 prior to COVID.
We are wanting us to get started back in Matagorda County.
Chrystal Folse:
“I feel in my heart it is something we need.
“It is for anyone who has been touched by cancer. It is for the friend, mother, daughter, father, brother, sister and so on,” she added.
“I am wanting us to get it started back in Matagorda County.”
This year alone we have had family members diagnosed, several friends, and children in our schools.
We have also lost some very special people that were part of our relay family.
It is for our community, it is a network where the cancer patient has someone they can talk to that knows how they are feeling.
It is for the caregiver, to have a person that knows how they are feeling.
It is the survivor that lets that patient, know that they can survive. It is for the family and friends to have support.
At relay you will laugh, cry, play games, and so much more.
The current thought is the first Friday in April of 2024 as a Mini-Relay.
It will give us all time to plan, organize and get you all involved.
I would like all of our schools, plants and community to be involved.
We will need to organize team for planning, team recruiting, sponsorships just to name a few.
Please contact Chrystal Folse at 979-240-4935 and let’s get this Relay For Life all planned out.
While ours will not be an all-night relay, the story is important.
We Relay overnight so we can empathize with the cancer survivors we fight for.
Throughout the night we experience different emotion: excitement, fear, fatigue, hope, just as survivors do during their journey. We always start with the Survivor Lap to opens Relay.
As participants start Relay they are strong and ready for the challenge just as a newly diagnosed cancer survivor hopes they too are ready for the challenge - the challenge of their life.
As daylight fades it represents the survivor as energy starts to fade and they wonder if they are going to lose their battle.
As the evening gets colder and darker relayers may start to wonder what they have gotten themselves into - just as the emotions of the cancer survivor get colder and darker and they too wonder what is in store for them.
As the Luminaria Ceremony begins.
This is the time of greatest emotion.
This represents the time the cancer patient needs family, friends, doctors, and the American Cancer Society to help them through their journey.
During the Luminaria lap we light candles and walk in silence.
Every candle has a name just as every cancer patient and we will carry them during this time through their journey.
At midnight, relayers begin to tire.
They have been walking for hours and don’t know if they can keep going.
They think about giving up.
For the cancer patient, this represents the time when they begin treatment.
They become exhausted, some sick, not wanting to go on, possibly wanting to give up, but they can’t.
The darkest hour of the night (2:00 AM), Relayers are truly exhausted, and may begin to question if they can make it.
They may need their teammates to lean on.
This represents the time the cancer patient must lean on loved ones, doctors, and the American Cancer Society again to help them through their journey.
They are told that the end is in sight and they begin to find hope they will make it to the celebration.
At 4 a.m. - the final hours of Relay.
The night has been long, but hope is strong and relayers feel the sense of accomplishment as they realize that they are almost there.
They have come so far, they can’t quit now.
This is much the same as the end of treatment for the cancer patient. Hope is in sight.
The dawning of a new day.
As the morning sun rises, relayers know that they have accomplished a life changing, empowering journey as does the cancer patient at the end of their journey with cancer.
We can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The morning sunrise brings a new day full of life and they know they will live to see another day.
Their treatments are over and they made it!
During closing ceremonies, we celebrate our accomplishment and although relayers are exhausted and weak, as is that cancer patient after treatment, they know that there is hope in the new day.
As a survivor celebrates being cancer free, relayers celebrate knowing that one day the world will be cancer free.
We celebrate the money raised at relay to support cancer patient services, lifesaving research, prevention education, and advocacy efforts.
So, the next time you are asked why relay is all night, you can answer: “When we relay, no one fights alone. Cancer doesn’t sleep, so for one night, neither will we. We Relay because we can.”
American Cancer Society thru Relay offers Community programs & services.
Their programs and services help the more than 1.4 million cancer patients diagnosed each year in this country, and the 14 million cancer survivors - as well as their family and friends.
They provide information, day-to-day help, and emotional support. And best of all, the help is free. Day-to-day help and support includes:
Road-to-recovery - Sometimes getting to cancer treatment is a challenge.
If you need a ride to treatment, we may be able to help
Patient-lodging - If your cancer treatment is far from home and you need a place to stay, the American Cancer Society may be able to help.
Some women use wigs, hats, breast forms, and bras to help cope with the effects of treatment.
The “TLC” Tender Loving Care® catalog offers these products, as well as helpful articles.
Women with breast cancer can talk with a trained Reach To Recovery® volunteer who is a breast cancer survivor.
You can share experiences, practical tips, and hope through the American Cancer Society Cancer Survivors Network®.
This is a free online community created by and for people with cancer and their families.
To learn more about programs and services, please visit https://www.cancer.org/treatment.html section.
