Relay begins in Boardman

May 16, 2015 at 12:03a.m.

BOARDMAN

It was just after 6 p.m. Friday, and they were on the track at Spartan Stadium.

Cancer survivors, men and women, young and old, were ready to take the traditional first lap that starts every Relay for Life. Afterward, the 53 teams participating in Boardman’s relay would continue, a representative from each team walking the track until 6 p.m. today, in the annual fundraiser against cancer.

The teams had raised more than $93,000 to benefit their community American Cancer Society offices.

Their strength and support for these survivors now walking their victory lap around the stadium would be put to the test for the next 24 hours. The general mood of the crowd was jovial, and everyone seemed ready for the challenge.

The track was packed with survivors, each one of them, no doubt, with a compelling story.

Darby Colian, 42, of Salem said she had no problem telling hers.

“I’m an open book,” she said. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer, stage three, in September of 2014,” she began. “I went through seven rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, and I’m still waiting for my radiation to start.”

“I also have a year’s worth of herceptin treatments to keep my estrogen level at bay, ’cause my cancer was feeding off my estrogen.”

She has 11 more of those treatments to go, she said. and six weeks of radiation ahead.

Colian said she found a lump in her breast, and that prompted her to get a mammogram.

“My first mammogram came back clear,” she said, and the doctor told her she was OK.

“But I was the aggressor and went back to my doctor,” she said, because she knew her tumor had grown.

Her doctor sent her for another mammogram, an ultrasound and a biopsy.

“And I was diagnosed with invasive lobular carcinoma,” she said, “which is rare. Fifteen percent of cancers are invasive lobular carcinomas.”

Invasion of her lymph nodes, she said, put her in stage three.

After undergoing treatment so far, Colian is considered in remission.

“I have to finish treatments, and hopefully, that will be the end of it,” she said.

Walking with Colian along the track was Carol Apinis, also of Salem.

She met Colian through a mutual friend who had made a support page on Facebook for her.

“Sixteen years ago, I had breast cancer,” Apinis said.

Because it went into her lymph nodes, she will never be considered cured, she said. Even after 16 years with no sign of it returning, she is considered in remission.

Her story is strikingly similar to Colian’s in other ways.

“I found the lump myself,” she said. “I had a couple of doctors tell me there was nothing wrong.”

The lesson learned from both their stories, they agreed, is clear: If you have a gut feeling something is wrong, trust your instincts.

The two were at the relay with a team based in Greenford called Faith, Hope, Love led by Chary Hively.

Hively also was an events leader for the relay.

“Everyone has benefited from the lifesaving efforts of the American Cancer Society,” she told the crowd. “And with every step you take, you help the American Cancer Society save lives.”