Relay for Life:
"two million and five so they will survive"

“The news is not good…it’s great.” Those were ABC News Anchor Charlie Gibson’s opening words in early January when he reported the American Cancer Society‘s announcement that for the second year in a row, the actual death rate for cancer has declined from 369 fewer deaths in 2003 to more than 3,000 in 2004. Gibson added that the 2004 numbers show that the 2003 numbers were no fluke.

Lawrenceville’s Dianne Fahring received that news with joy. For the past 11 years Fahring has been the primary caregiver to her husband, Alan, former head football coach at Collins Hill High School. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the age of 49 during a routine examination. Alan Fahring is currently in a clinical trial sponsored by the National Institute for Health (NIH), the most current therapy in a long list of treatments that began two years after surgery when the cancer spread to his bones. “We know the treatment he is on at NIH won’t be the answer, but with all the progress in research, when one treatment quits working, we think that there will always be something else,” Dianne Fahring said, adding that that has been their experience for the past nine years. “Each treatment is like a stepping stone to what we hope will be the drug that cures him.”

While research is helping keep those diagnosed with cancer alive, Fahring also believes awareness and early diagnosis is the other key to the low death rate.

As a long-time volunteer with the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, Dianne Fahring says the community awareness Relay For Life creates has helped with people getting screenings for breast, prostate and colon cancer, which for many results in early diagnosis. “Relay brings a lot of hope and support to the survivor and the caregiver and to me, that is how it differs from other fundraisers,” said the Sugar Hill Elementary physical education teacher.

Two Million and Five So they Will Survive is both the goal and the slogan for this year’s American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in Gwinnett County, which will be held at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds on Friday and Saturday, May 11 and 12 this year.

The focus is on fundraising, but also on survivors and their caregivers - people like the Fahrings, who have received physical and emotional support during their 11-year battle.

Gwinnett planners hope to raise $2.5 million and have up to 2,000 survivors take the Survivor’s Walk at 7 pm on Friday evening with their caregiver.

Relay is a unique opportunity to bring cancer survivors and caregivers together for the purpose of honoring the hope they symbolize in the cancer journey. The American Cancer Society believes that each individual has the right to define his or her own experience with cancer and considers a cancer survivor to be anyone who defines himself or herself this way, from the time of diagnosis throughout the balance of his or her life. At Relay you see survivors of all ages, cultures and colors who have “stared the cancer beast in the eye and made him blink,” in the words of the late Terry Zahn, a Virginia Beach news anchor and Relay For Life volunteer.

Gwinnett’s Relay For Life is the biggest in the world and the Gwinnett community has raised more than $15 million since its inception in 1993. Five hundred teams from schools, corporations, businesses, religious and civic groups and neighborhoods come to the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds every May, set up their campsite and walk the track in relays from 7 pm in the evening until 10 am the next morning. In between, there is fun, entertainment, celebration of life and somber moments to remember those who lost their battle with cancer.

Relay For Life is the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) signature event and if they had searched for a hundred years, the organization
couldn’t have found a better event to raise funds and celebrate survivorship. The event got its start in 1983 in Tacoma, Washington when an oncologist, Dr. Gordy Klatt ran and walked on a local high school track for 24 hours in honor of his cancer patients, to raise money for the American Cancer Society and awareness about cancer. He stayed on the track for 24 hours to symbolize the fact that people with cancer deal with it 24 hours a day. The following year teams got together and ran the track in relays.

Other towns and cities followed suit and today events are held in 4800 communities across the United States. In addition, cancer organizations throughout the world have adopted Relay For Life and it is now held in countries like Argentina, Australia, Canada, Honduras, Mexico, Portugal, the UK, South Africa, Taiwan and Slovenia.

The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life is almost 25 years old and in that time the events across the United States have raised close to $3 BILLION dollars. As a matter of fact, one out of every five dollars ever raised by the American Cancer Society came from Relay For Life!

The dollars go to expand research, to provide greater access to cancer information, to programs that raise awareness about cancer and the importance of early detection, healthy living, and patient services. Money also helps advocates get legislation passed that protects public health and provides access to care. The ACS contributed to almost every major cancer discovery and 40 ACS-funded researchers later became Nobel Prize laureates.

“I have no doubt that the dollars and the awareness raised by Relay For Life have contributed to the recent decrease in death to cancer,” said Fahring. “If you are a survivor I hope you will come out and celebrate your survivorship...or if you are a caregiver, bring your special survivor to Relay on May 11. I promise you’ll be back next year.”


For more information on having a team or to sign up for the Survivors’ Walk, go to
www.gwinnettrelayforlife.org.

For information about cancer visit www.acs.org or call 1-800-ACS-2345.