Valley Relay for Life teams go the distance, merit acclaim

Relays for Life in the Mahoning Valley always exude fierce competition and sky-high goals. It should come as no surprise then that our Relay teams are banding together to try to pummel a world record by forming the longest human-awareness ribbon in history at Eastwood Field on June 22.

The tens of thousands who participate annually in the 24-hour marathons at tracks, stadiums, gymnasiums and other venues throughout Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties exert their energy and competitive spirit for a noble cause: raising awareness of cancer’s devastating impact, assisting its survivors and expediting research for cures.

As such, we commend American Cancer Society Relay for Life officials, organizers and volunteers who have brought a healthy and much welcomed dose of acclaim to the Valley as a proven leader in ACS’s principal fundraiser.

For example, the Relay teams in Warren routinely come in first place in Ohio, both in fundraising and participation. The Boardman event generally darts in not far behind among the top five finishers, and relays in Liberty and Austintown are catching up fast among the state’s powerhouse leaders.

Such enthusiasm and compassion strike a solid blow to the lingering image of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman metro area as a tired, lifeless cesspool of economic and social decay.

The proof is in participants’ indomitable spirit. Witness the $700,000 raised this month by relays in Boardman, Warren and Liberty alone. Twenty-thousand-plus cancer survivors and supportive volunteers braved gusty winds and monsoon-like downpours the past two weekends to walk and raise dollars for ACS.

CANCER’S HEAVY TOLL

Given the impact that cancer takes on our community, our state and our nation, their energy is well channeled. Consider:

In 2010, 65,000 Ohioans were diagnosed with invasive cancer.

About 25,000 Ohioans die of cancer each year. That’s six times the number of U.S. deaths over the past eight years in the war in Iraq.

Overall, cancer incidence and death rates are 9 percent higher in Ohio than in the United States as a whole.

Despite such discouraging statistics, hope runs deep. Thanks in part to Relays for Life, survival from cancer continues to increase. The five-year survival probability for all cancers diagnosed nationally from 1999 to 2005 is 68 percent, up from 50 percent in 1975 to 1977, according to an ACS report.

Going for a record

Reports such as those build momentum for Relay participants. We’re expecting unbridled momentum and moxie when Relay volunteers from the Valley take to Eastwood Field to form a ribbon shape after the Scrappers game against the Batavia Muckdogs on June 22.

To break the record for longest human-awareness ribbon, the Relay teams will have to attract at least 3,954 people to the field. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest human-awareness ribbon was achieved by Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud and 3,952 Saudi Arabian women at The Ministry of Education Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as part of Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Oct. 28, 2010.

We have little doubt that our dashing and never-say-die Relayers will meet and beat that record easily and prove to the world what we’ve known for decades: Mahoning Valley residents are a benevolent and compassionate lot.