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Walkers in Boardman Relay hope to cross the $4M mark today
See also: Liberty Relay walkers continue through rain
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RAMI DAUD | THE VINDICATOR.Cancer Survivors make the first lap around the track at the Boardman Center Middle School track Friday evening.
BOARDMAN
Fifteen-year cancer survivor Carol Frost of Canfield, diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 32, said she planned to walk a lap at the Boardman Relay for Life for every person in her family who has died of cancer.
The family members include her mother, aunt, uncle and all of her grandparents.
“I think about them while I walk. It’s very emotional,” she said.
Frost is among the 1,200 to 1,500 people who are walking as a member of one of 80 teams or as individuals in the 17th Boardman Relay on Friday and today at Boardman Center Middle School.
Relay For Life is the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society.
The Boardman Relay has raised $3.86 million in its first 16 relays. Danielle Procopio, 2011 volunteer chairwoman, said this year’s goal of $240,000, if reached, would break the $4 million mark.
“We’re grateful to the people and businesses helping achieve that goal,” she said.
“Relay for Life brings communities together. We honor each persons who has been touched by this disease while raising money for cancer research, education, advocacy and service,” said Procopio, community relations director for SouthernCare Hospice.
The relay also brings friends together, like Austintown friends and neighbors Paulette McKay, diagnosed in 1980 with thyroid cancer, and Debra Ann Petitt, diagnosed with basal-cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, in July 2010. Petitt was participating in her first relay.
“The survivor’s lap is emotional, and it gives you a lot of hope that better treatments will be developed and that eventually a cure will be found,” said McKay, who works at Whole Foods Market in Cleveland.
People of all ages braved the inclement weather at Friday’s opening day.
Among the younger relay walkers are members of Team Burke with some young team members such as Mary Kate Kelty, 9, a student at Holy Family Elementary School.
“We’re walking to find a cure for cancer and to help family and friends,” said Team Burke captain Rachel Kepley, 16, a student at Canfield High School, who said her grandparents had cancer.
“We look forward to the day when there is a cure and all we have to do is celebrate,” said Procopio, who urged everyone to fight back against cancer.