Perseverance. Strength. Planning. Flexibility.
Perseverance. Strength. Planning. Flexibility.
Such words can all be attributed to the journey of a cancer patient. Whether they survive their battle against any form of this contemptible disease or not, cancer patients needs to have all of these items in their arsenal alongside the drugs and doctors who fight the medical battle with them. While weapons like mental strength and clear thinking can only come from within, vast amounts of money are needed to continue to study why, for instance, blood cells in some peopleâs bodies mutate, weaken the immune system, and develop into lymphoma. Doctors still do not know what causes Hodgkin lymphoma. Most cases, according to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, occur in people who do not even have identifiable risk factors. Likewise, the exact cause of myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells, is not known.
While 90 percent of skin cancer cases come from too much time in the sun without skin protection, others may be hereditary. In the same way, while most cases of lung cancer are brought on by tobacco smoke, the second leading cause of this disease is the odorless radioactive gas radon, which can seep into homes and other buildings from rocks and soil. How do people protect themselves from that?
Regardless of how cancer occurs, patients need treatment. Some even go on to live many years cancer-free. For treatment and success, the American Cancer Societyâs Relay For Life events raise funds for continued research and medication. Those who participate in Relay For Life do it for myriad reasons, without discrimination of who has what kind of cancer or how it was contracted. We all want cancer eradicated. And if it is not wiped out after this yearâs Relay For Life, if there is a need to raise another quarter of a million dollars by this town next June, we will do it all over again.
Relay For Life allows Newtown, and communities across this great country, to grow together as it fundraises together to fight cancer. It also puts faces to this disease. Young and old, rich and poor, educated or unschooled, cancer finds us all. With each subsequent Relay there are more faces of survivors. There are, sadly, also a few faces missing from the crowd, those who were fighting the disease in previous years who did not win their campaign.
On June 5, local survivors and caregivers stood on a baseball field at Fairfield Hills to have their picture taken. They stood within white chalk lines that spelled out HOPE, which had been laid down by Newtown Parks & Recreation Assistant Director of Parks Carl Samuelson. Those survivors and caregivers lifted their eyes toward the sky, where a photographer was perched 105 feet above them to capture the moment, and were indeed filled with hope.
About an hour later, the 2010 Relay For Life Newtown was curtailed due to the first of two strong storms that moved through town during the weekend, but the spirit that carried that event into its being did not end with the rain. When Relay committee members, survivors and caregivers, friends, family, and participants of all ages and backgrounds made the unexpected trip to the cafetorium at Reed Intermediate School while the wind picked up and the sky darkened early Saturday evening, they carried the spirit of hope with them.
The community persevered through a change of plans, found comfort in the strength of the building that protected them from the storm, and stayed flexible while the difficult decision was made by Mr Samuelson and others to finally end the weekend event. But like the flexibility that becomes part of life for a cancer patient who adjusts his or her schedule to allow for additional, unexpected medical appointments, the group within Reed School and the Newtown community at large have accepted that while 2010âs overnight celebration could not happen, there is still plenty to look forward to in the future. There is still the need to help those with cancer, as well as to prevent it from affecting others.
Newtownâs commitment to fighting cancer was not dampened by last weekendâs weather. Like a patient who overcomes an unexpected hurdle, Newtown moved through the rain of Saturday, awoke to Sundayâs sun and blue skies, and began planning for an abbreviated celebration to take place on June 10. Next yearâs planning will certainly follow shortly thereafter. There is hope, and brighter days, ahead.                                                                                             âSH