If you are reading this it is, it's more than likely that cancer has touched your life in some way. Cancer has a way of reaching out and touching just about everyone. Cancer doesn’t care who you are, what you’ve done, or where you are in life. Cancer can strike anyone. If cancer has touched you in any way, you are most certainly not alone.

Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society are amazing organizations. In May 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt walked and ran for 24 hours around a track in Tacoma, Washington, ultimately raising $27,000 to help the American Cancer Society fight cancer. Since then, people have gathered annually to create an amazing night of community and hope. Knowing everyone who is next to you has gone through a similar struggle with cancer, whether that be directly or by association, is very comforting. Today’s Relay for Life events feature a survivor lap, a luminaria ceremony in commemoration of those who have lost loved ones to cancer. Relay for Life is an event where communities around the world gather to honor cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease that has already taken the lives of too many people.

I relay for for a personal reason, as many others do. When I was 15 years old, I lost my father suddenly to laryngeal cancer. At the time he was diagnosed, I did not quite understand what was going on. Being so young, I did not yet understand the severity that a diagnosis of cancer brings. My father was a seemingly healthy man, he didn’t smoke or drink so his illness didn’t make sense to me. The cancer seemed to come out of nowhere, and it took him away just as quickly. He has been gone for seven years this past March, and even so it is still hard for me to write about him without wanting to cry. My story is not special. Ot has happened to many other's fathers, mother, aunt, uncles, and loved ones.

I relay so that no one will ever have to go through the pain of losing a loved one to cancer. Everyone’s efforts in Relay for Life help to bring us one step closer to a cure. I have seen too many of my friends and loved ones also lose people close to them to not get involved in such as great event. I relay because of the devastating power of cancer. Cancer is a defeating disease, and this is why I relay. I relay so that people have a hope of more tomorrow, a hope of more memories, and a hope for more days. Cancer is a scary disease, but together we can fight to end it.