Cancer group selects volunteer as relay ambassador

The Shenango Boulevard woman emphasized that research takes money.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
FARRELL, Pa. -- Susan Leach has seen first-hand the importance of research in the fight against cancer.
She lost her father and a brother to the disease and said a treatment that was regarded as experimental when it was used on her brother seven years ago is now mainstream.
It didn't save his life, but Leach said she is aware of others it has saved since.
That's one of the reasons she became a volunteer for the American Cancer Society after her father, James F. Mason, died 10 years ago and her brother, William Mason, known as Harry, died seven years ago.
It's also the reason she recently agreed to serve as one of just 32 Relay Community Ambassadors for the society in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Has confidence
"I believe in the system and what it does and where the help comes from," said the Shenango Boulevard woman, an employee of the federal Department of Defense at its Defense National Stockpile facility in Warren.
People have to realize it all takes money for research, and lobbying for that money will be an important part of her work as a Relay Community Ambassador, she said.
"I will be doing some traveling with the volunteer program," Leach said, explaining that one of her primary responsibilities will be to keep up with both laws already on the books that deal with cancer research funding and new laws that are pending.
That means trips to Washington, D.C., to talk with congressmen or touching bases with them when they are back in their districts, she said.
She will also serve as a key grass-roots volunteer and spokeswoman for the society's advocacy efforts on behalf of the community.
"It's a two-year commitment," Leach said, adding that it's one she was glad to make.
Washington relay
She recently journeyed to Washington with about 3,000 Relay Community Ambassadors from across the United States, participating in a "Relay For Life Celebration on the Hill" that featured a walking relay around a reflecting pond at the Capitol Building and meeting with legislators to urge that Congress make the fight against cancer a national priority.
"It was just unbelievable," she said, noting that more than 6,000 people, all wearing dark purple T-shirts, showed up to take part in the relay.
Serving as a Relay Community Ambassador isn't her only work on behalf of the Cancer Society.
It's a year-round avocation for her.
Among other things, Leach serves as chairman in charge of cancer survivors and their reception at the annual Relay For Life held at Mercer High School. More than 100 cancer survivors participate in the fund-raising event each year, she said.
Leach said her husband, Philip, and a sister, Quoilla Gabriel, also of Farrell, participate in the annual relays with her.