The Relay For Life

The supreme irony of a cancer diagnosis is that some of life’s most profound and revealing chapters begin at that moment. In that awful initial emotional sink into fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, and helplessness, the innate human response is to reach out to others — first to family, then friends, and ultimately to a cast of compassionate perfect strangers — to fight the isolation a person feels in the shadow of his or her own mortality. That response to invite others into one’s fragile life is the first step to healing on so many levels, and it is the premise for the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) annual Relay For Life.

The event brings together more than 3.5 million people in 20 countries around the world to celebrate those who are battling cancer, to commemorate those lives that have been claimed by the disease, to marshal resources for continued research, and to disseminate information, support, and good will to those who are on the front lines of that battle.

The strength of that effort in Newtown has been building in recent years. Last year, the community raised a record $410,000 for cancer research, education, and treatment programs. This year, with a new venue at Fairfield Hills, organizers once again hope to build on Newtown’s established commitment to the fight against cancer. The event is scheduled for June 13–14 with 14 continuous hours of activity leavened by food, music, entertainment, spiritual fellowship, competitions, and contests. The theme of this year’s Relay For Life is “All American Picnic,” and the entire community is encouraged to join in the fun and support the cause.

At the heart of this extraordinary event is the relay itself: a circular parade of humanity, evoking at once laughs and tears, silliness and poignancy, and an overwhelming sense that this dread disease somehow reveals something about life we would not otherwise know. Unlike most relays, there is no actual handing off of batons. But something is definitely passed between people as they reach out to each other and walk through the night in a circle (the ultimate anti-terminality shape) on the Conga Lap, the Bubbles Lap, the Glo-Lap, the Baseball Cap Lap, and on and on until light overwhelms the darkness at dawn.

If past experience is any indication, the momentum that spins out from this night of going round and round will inspire this community of individuals to continue reaching out to others with a centrifugal urgency toward bigger and bigger circles of support and understanding until one day cancer is surrounded and surrenders. Be a part of it. The Relay For Life begins at 3 pm on Saturday, June 13.