Cancer survivors celebrate, remember

Some 1,000 people are marching in this year's Austintown relay.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The American Cancer Society's Relay for Life is both a celebration of life for cancer survivors and a memorial for two young women who died of cancer recently.
"The days now are filled with the wonders of life. I can get excited about the littlest things -- the first birds of the season you can hear singing when the snow is still on the ground; the flowers that come up every year, but sometimes are so much more fragrant than the year before," said Louise Stovall, a 51/2 year survivor of breast cancer, who has lived in Austintown 29 years. "For all the survivors, it's time to celebrate life," she said.
A relay committee member who works for a local law firm, Stovall is also a charter member of the Austintown Lioness Club, having last year received the Melvin E. Jones Award -- the highest honor the club can bestow on a member.
Some 1,000 people, including about 150 cancer survivors of all ages, are participating in this year's fourth annual 24-hour relay at Austintown Fitch High School Stadium, which concludes at 6 p.m. today, and of which The Vindicator is a sponsor. A simultaneous fourth annual relay is also under way today at Bo Rein Stadium at Niles McKinley High School.
The Austintown fund-raising event began Friday evening with opening ceremonies, after which the cancer survivors walked the first lap around the track, followed by 84 teams of 10 to 15 members each, representing churches, families, civic organizations, schools and businesses.
Joseph Horton, 12, a sixth-grader at Campbell Middle School, who was diagnosed with leukemia in March 1994, carried the lighted torch as he led the survivors around the track just behind a color guard from American Legion Austintown Memorial Post 301.
About 75 people attending the event wore T-shirts bearing a photo of Jessica Moorhead of Austintown, a 16-year-old Ursuline High School junior who died of leukemia in March.
This year's event is dedicated in memory of Jessica and of Kim DeOnofrio, a 21-year-old Youngstown State University social work student, also of Austintown, who died of ovarian cancer in March. DeOnofrio was on the national board of Colleges Against Cancer and founder and president of the YSU chapter of that group.
"The Relay for Life represents our hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that, one day, cancer will be eliminated," said Sherry McNeal of Austintown, event co-chairwoman.
Other relays
All relays are 24 hours and run from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 p.m. Saturday. Other local Relays for Life are as follows:
UFriday and next Saturday at Boardman Center Middle School track and Warren G. Harding High School's Mollenkopf Stadium track.
U May 30-31 at Liberty High School.
U June 6-7 at Lakeview High School track in Cortland and East Liverpool Mangano Memorial Track.
UJune 20-21 at Campbell Memorial High School track (Hispanic Relay for Life).
U June 27-28 at Sebring High School track and the Columbiana County Fairgrounds in Lisbon.
U Aug. 29-30 at Lordstown High School.