Cancer survivors share stories of hope at Warren Relay for Life

May 13, 2017 at 12:08a.m.

WARREN

More than 1,000 people formed on East Market Street Friday evening by the Trumbull County Courthouse – all of them with one special bond. They are cancer survivors.

“I think the good Lord is watching over us,” said Craig Germentz, 75, of Southington, cancer-free for four years.

“Cancer is no picnic,” read the sweatshirt worn by Fran Steffey of Niles, who has been free of lung cancer for 11 years. Her 72-year-old father, Barry Steffey of Howland, is an 11-year survivor of melanoma.

Also marching with the survivors was state Rep. Michael O’Brien of Warren.

“I had bone cancer when I was 11, and I’ve been cancer-free for 50 years,” O’Brien said.

The survivors say they are proof cancer can be beaten, which is the point of Warren’s annual Relay for Life, which began Friday evening. Fifty teams of various sizes, clad in special T-shirts, will canvass the Warren area for pledges, some for 24 hours, until the relay officially ends at 6 p.m. today.

“You are among the largest relay events in the state of Ohio,” said Kelly Stevens of HOT 101, who along with broadcasting partner A.C. McCullough hosted the kick-off.

“Last year, we raised around $286,000, and this year, we’re hoping for $288,000,” said Phil O’Hara of Howland, who has been the lead chairman of the event the last two years. O’Hara has a personal stake in the relay, besides leading it. He, too, is a cancer survivor.

“I had prostate cancer, but it was caught early, and I had [surgery] to remove it,” he said. O’Hara said he talks about his surgery in the hope “it helps someone else.”

Warren’s John F. Kennedy High School brought in a team of 48, mostly students. Like O’Hara, the relay for them is a personal matter. They are walking for 10-year old Jaden Poole of Warren, a fourth-grader who is seriously ill from a form of brain cancer. Pictures of Jaden were displayed at the team’s tent, along with a life-size drawing of him wearing a Batman costume.

“Batman’s his hero,” said Erin Kachersky, Jaden’s teacher. “He’s an awesome kid.”

Ironically, May also happens to be Brain Cancer Awareness Month.

As is customary with Relay for Life, teams set up tents throughout Courthouse Square. One of those tents emitted the tantalizing odor of steaks to be fed to the survivors and their families free of charge by Outback Steakhouse of Niles.

“We’ll feed about 700 and it only takes 45 minutes,” said the Outback’s Ben Rhoads, who said he has been volunteering his services for 18 years.

Robert Laird, 76, of Warren has been coming to the relay for years. As a survivor of bouts with kidney and prostate cancer “that I caught early,” Laird says he and the others view their shared experiences as “a bond in fellowship.” Alicia Thomas, 51, of Cortland is part of that bond, having undergone chemotherapy and radiation for lung cancer.

“We are all survivors,” said Thomas, free of the lung cancer for seven years. “We are very strong, and we’ll make it through this.”

Money raised by Relay for Life is allocated for cancer research and other local programs, O’Hara said.