Newspaper Page Text
Purple K
Relay For Life supporters
share stories of life, loss
Emily Heglund
editorl@tds.net
The emotions are still
close to the surface for
Theresa Richards as she
talks about losing her
mother and a close friend to
cancer.
“They thought she had
beaten it,” she said of her
mom, Angela Gartner, who
died in January 2011 just
eight months after being di
agnosed with Stage IV ovar
ian cancer. A friend, Tonya
Wiggins, died that October
after a long battle with the
same disease.
“She was like an ambassa
dor,” Richards said of Wig
gins, a former school system
employee and local business
leader with Chick-fil-A. “If
she found out you’d been di
agnosed, she came right up
to you.”
It was Wiggins’ diagnosis
that first got Richards in
volved with Relay For Life.
She participated for several
years and remembers the
droves of supporters who
came to rally around her
friend.
“The Chick-fil-A cow
even came out to walk a lap,”
she said with a laugh.
This year’s Relay event is
set to begin at 6 p.m. Friday,
May 3, at the Camden Com
munity Recreation Center
track, 1050 Wildcat Drive in
Kingsland. As of press time
Tuesday, 43 teams and 317
participants had raised
$50,584 for the American
Cancer Society, which funds
cancer research and pro
grams that support patients
and their families.
The cause is also personal
for Julia McCollough, a 15-
year Relay veteran who has
served as the team captain
for Camden Middle School
for a decade.
“I started by involvement
with Relay For Life when
my Nana, Ethel Lambert,
became ill with breast can
cer,” she said. “My grand
mother was a role model for
me growing up. She was in
remission for five years
when the breast cancer re
turned. She passed away
when she was 78. I realized
then how important it was
for me to be involved in a
local effort to find a cure for
cancer.”
Later, her motivation
changed to educating young
people, including her son,
Charlie, about becoming in
volved in their community
— and about the importance
of early detection.
“We plan to hold a ‘dan
gers of smoking, chewing
and dipping’ campaign at
CMS for our sixth-graders,”
she said. “Thanks to Fostina
Mitchell and Alan Christy at
CMS; they helped me to
keep Relay For Life going
year after year.”
Each year, as she revs up
her fundraising campaign,
McCollough thinks about
her grandmother and others
she has known who fought
cancer.
“I hope that my efforts
make a difference in a per
son struggling with the dis
ease,” she said.
Join the fight
against cancer
AT THE 2013 RELAY FOR LIFE
May 3-4 • Camden PSA Track • Kingsland
Light a candle for
someone you love
Luminaries will line the track at
Relay For Life so participants
can honor both cancer
survivors and cancer victims.
Purchase one today and pay
tribute to someone you love.
Honor a survivor!
Cancer survivors who are
registered for the Survivors’
Lap on May 3 will receive a
special goody bag, free meal
and survivors T-shirt. They
kick off the overnight relay
by leading the first lap and
inspiring others to keep up
the fight.
Register survivors and order luminaries online
at www.camdenrelay.org.
For more information, call (912) 265-7117 or email casey.corley@cancer.org.
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