Candles surround Boardman Relay track

There are 137 teams of 10 to 15 people participating in the 24-hour event.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

BOARDMAN — Justine Ula, 16, walks for the group that saved her life.

Ula, surrounded by friends and family in orange Team Justine T-shirts, walked the survivors’ lap at the Boardman Relay for Life in Spartan Stadium behind Center Middle School.

The 24-hour event, an American Cancer Society fundraiser, started Friday and runs through 6 p.m. today.

The Liberty relay, at Church Hill Park, also runs through 6 p.m. today.

Ula, a sophomore at Poland Seminary High School, was diagnosed in May 2004 with a type of bone cancer.

She endured 14 rounds of chemotherapy, 28 days of radiation treatment and underwent surgery to remove half of her pelvis because of a tumor.

She says she’s feeling well now. She just has to get checkups every four months and regular MRIs.

“I wanted to do something for the group that saved my life and to encourage everyone else,” Ula said of her relay involvement.

This marks her second year participating in the event, and Team Justine grew from 10 members last year to about 20 this year.

Her team is one of 137 participating, up slightly from last year, said Mark Luke, event chairman.

Last year’s Boardman relay raised $286,000. The amount raised this year won’t be determined until this evening.

The Boardman relay is thestate’s third largest per capita in giving. This marks Boardman’s 13th annual relay.

Luke, whose parents both died of cancer, believes progress is being made in the fight against the disease.

He pointed to a track full of walkers clad in gold shirts, designating them as cancer survivors.

“The money we’re raising is making a difference in people’s lives,” he said.

While the incidence of cancer diagnosis may be increasing, so is the number of people surviving the disease, Luke said.

Carol Carr, of Poland, is a 25-year breast cancer survivor and a member of the Focus Support group. She’s been participating in relay events ever since they started.

She does it because she’s here and able, she said.

“When I first had cancer, I did it for encouragement for myself,” Carr said. “Now, I’m here to give encouragement to other people. The longer you survive, the more you have to give back.”

Philip Sodeman, of Boardman, is a four-year testicular cancer survivor. “It’s moving to be part of the survivors’ lap,” he said.

He’s only missed the Boardman event once since then, when his wedding day coincided with the relay date. That year, he and his wife, Holly, walked in the Austintown relay instead.

This relay is a little difficult for Sodeman, though. His mother, Cheryl, who usually walked alongside him, succumbed last month to breast cancer.

Candles surrounded the perimeter of the track labeled with names of survivors and loved ones lost to cancer.

More than a few bore the name of the Rev. Daniel Venglarik of St. Charles Church, who died earlier this month of pancreatic cancer.

The Rev. Mr. Venglarik had been scheduled to deliver the invocation as part of the opening ceremony.