School hosts Relay for Life event
Sitting on a blanket on the grass near the Lawrence High School football stadium as a young child squirmed nearby, Erica Walker said she knows many people who have battled cancer friends as well as family.
That’s why Ms. Walker, who is a special education teacher at the Lawrence Intermediate School, was taking part in the Lawrence Township Relay for Life cancer research fundraiser Friday afternoon. The event is sponsored by the American Cancer Society.
Ms. Walker said that when Lawrence Intermediate School students and staff were asked at a “mini Relay for Life” rally earlier in the day whether they knew anyone who had battled cancer, nearly every hand was raised in the air.
”It’s amazing to see how many people are affected by cancer,” Ms. Walker said.
That may be why nearly 300 people signed up for last week’s Relay for Life, which is the American Cancer Society’s signature fundraising event. Teams or individuals walk all night or most of it, anyway to symbolize that cancer never sleeps.
For a few hours before the start of the event, the field was full of tents which sheltered groups that had signed up to participate. Some youngsters tossed a football, while the adults chatted and ate a picnic supper until it was time to take a walk.
Warming up the participants before they stepped down onto the track, Superintendent of Schools Crystal Edwards introduced the honorary co-chairs of the event Donna Porwancher, who is a school pyschologist at the Lawrence Middle School, and her husband, Dr. Richard Porwancher.
Rebecca Gold, the school district’s director of personnel, reminded the participants that “we are all here for the same reason to try to put an end to cancer.” But they were also there for another reason, she said. Anyone who is diagnosed with cancer can be assured that they are part of a team that will help them get through it, she said.
”We are all in this together,” Ms. Gold said.
The nearly two dozen cancer survivors and their caregivers who had signed up for the Relay for Life walked down to the track to kick off the event, walking the first lap together behind a purple banner. Lawrence High School’s Red Scare marching band led them once around the track.
Then, one by one, the teams strode onto the track. While the adults walked, some of the younger participants ran or skipped along the track. One youngster dribbled a ball as he walked, and another rode a scooter.
For more than an hour, the teams walked around the track. White paper bags with glow sticks inside them luminaries lined the track. Many bore messages of hope and remembrance. Some expressed hope and support for friends or family battling cancer, while others acknowledged friends and family who had lost the war.
Finally, it was time for the luminaria ceremony.
Each of the luminaria represents a treasured relationship, Liz Radzki told the teams as they sat in the bleachers. Each one represents a treasured relationship people with a name and a story to tell. They are parents, siblings, children, friends and loved ones, she said.
Ms. Radzki, whose sister died of cancer, said the ceremony is a time to grieve for the people who lost their battle with cancer. It’s a time to reflect on how the disease has touched everyone personally, but it is also a time to find hope, she said.
”No matter what our experience with cancer has been, we all share the hope that we will one day live in a world where our children and their children will never have to hear the words, ‘You have cancer,’ ” she said.
Ms. Radzki said the Relay for Life is important because by celebrating, remembering and fighting back together, it is possible to find hope. That hope is not just for the people who had gathered at the football stadium, but for everyone across the planet, she said.
As the official sponsor of birthdays, the American Cancer Society which is celebrating its 100th birthday this month knows how important each and every birthday is, she said. The American Cancer Society has spent the last century saving lives and creating more birthdays, she said.
”The American Cancer Society is leading the way to transform cancer from deadly to treatable, and from treatable to preventable. The progress we have made in the last 100 years is remarkable,” Ms. Radzki said.
The teams were invited again to step onto the track for a final lap in silence in honor or memory of someone close to them who has fought cancer. Ms. Radzki encouraged the teams to let each step be in remembrance of them and “a step forward in our fight back toward a brighter tomorrow.”

