LangleyAdvance
Your community newspaper since 1931
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Breaking news, sports, and entertainment: www.langleyadvance.com
Audited circulation: 40,026 – 32 pages
Cancer
Relay re-energized for ninth year CASH TODAY!!
604-534-8845
20369 56 Ave., Langley (Behind the Baseline Pub)
SUMMER IS COMING!
View with
Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance
Come on in for your FREE AC Inspection
Langley 5923 200th Street
604-530-5371
BC’s #1 POWERSTROKE SPECIALIST RIGHT HERE IN LANGLEY To Book Your Appointment Scan With
604-532-9445 5957 - 206A St., Langley www.bernhausendiesel.com
Cancer survivors in yellow T-shirts took the first lap with their families and supporters.
The Relay for Life raised more than a quarter million dollars in Langley this year. by Matthew Claxton mclaxton@langleyadvance.com
The 2013 Langley Relay for Life brought in more than $290,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society by the end of the 12-hour event Saturday. Starting Friday night at 7 p.m., 94 teams with more than 770 participants started taking turns to circle the track at the McLeod Athletic Park. Malcolm Shields, 10, broke all kinds of records as he raised money in honour of his six-yearold brother Jack’s fight with leukemia. Malcom had raised more than $35,000 by the time the Relay began. His team, from Glenwood Elementary School, was the top team, largely due to Malcolm’s efforts. “That’s the highest individually, by a fair amount, in the history of our relay, and the highest team,” said volunteer Relay chair Howie Vickberg. Previous top individual fundraisers have collected in the range of $10,000 to $12,000. It was Jack who cut the ribbon to start the survivor’s lap, the
Matthew Claxton/Langley Advance
Bands including Other Side of Five played during the evening. first lap of the event at 7 p.m. Jack was carried around the track on his father Jody’s shoulders, at the head of a vast group of cancer survivors wearing bright yellow shirts. Volunteers and participants had been casting a wary eye on the sky all day, after a deluge on Thursday. “We didn’t have sunshine when we were setting up this morning,” said Vickberg. While Friday dawned cloudy, by the time teams took to the track, the sun was out, and not a drop of rain came down during the event. Peter Kingston, a vice-president with the Canadian Cancer Society, came to the opening of the event to thank the relayers for their donations over nine years of the local Relay for Life.
“Already, it has changed the survival rates for cancer,” he said. “Your presence here does make a difference.” He also presented Vickberg with an award for his volunteering. Along with a plaque, he got a T-shirt that dubbed him a “Relay walkin’ prevention talkin’ luminary lightin’ cancer fightin’ creator of more survivors.” Every year, the Relay for Life features a cancer survivor as a speaker, and this year it was Elaine McLeod, recovering her health after being treated for stage three ovarian cancer. She’s reminded of her survivor status every time she hears of a a friend or acquaintance who has lost their battle with the disease, said McLeod. “I don’t want to be marked by
Jack Shields, six, was hoisted onto his father Jody’s shoulders for the survivor lap. Jack is being treated for leukemia. cancer, I want to be a better person,” she said. Her son told her that “cancer survivors are not pushovers,” McLeod said. With other survivors, she rang a large gong to mark the end of her lap. McLeod said before starting she planned to ring it “with gusto.” Relayers were up from 7 p.m. on Friday to before 6 a.m. on Saturday morning. While not walking the track, there were scavenger hunts, a tug of war, live bands, and an outdoor screening of Back to the Future. Shannon Todd-Booth of the Cancer Society said the feedback was excellent, thanks to lots of new teams, a refurbished stadium, and changes to the lineup of live bands and the first ever movie.
Candle-lit luminaries in the stands spelled out Hope and Cure after dark.
Matthew Claxton Langley Advance