Proud Sponsor of Relay for Life
Relay for Life
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June 2016
2016 RELAY FOR LIFE SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FRIDAY, JUNE 10 • 7 PM • MINOT STATE UNIVERSITY DOME
All activities are subject to change. This entire event is open to the public – Please join us!
®4-7 p.m. Dunk Tank ®4-9:30 p.m. Bounce Castle ®4-9:30 p.m. Relay Store ®4-9:45 p.m. Silent Auction ®5-7 p.m. Hot Dogs by Trinity Health – for Cancer Survivors and Caregivers ®5:30 p.m. Karate ®5:30-7 p.m. Elsa and Captain America – come get your photo taken with them!
®7 p.m.
OPENING CEREMONY
-Survivor Speaker is Renee Byre -Survivor Lap -Pantene Beautiful Lengths – watch some local folks cut their hair to be donated to a great cause! ®7-8:45 p.m. Miss Relay Contest ®8 p.m. Yard Tic Tac Toe ®8:30 p.m. Cheese Doodle Catch ®9:00 p.m. Ring Toss ®9:15 p.m. Announce the winner of Miss Relay
®9:30 p.m. Frozen T-shirt competition ®10 p.m. Luminaria Ceremony – quiet time – reading of luminaria names ®11 p.m. Zumba ®12 a.m. Team Captain Celebration ®1 a.m. Final lap and drawing for a great prize! (You need to be present and walking to win!)
Theme Laps throughout the night • Each of the laps has a theme. Bring your own gear for each theme lap.
®12 a.m. Enter as many times as you want, ®11 p.m. ®8:30 p.m. ®7:30 p.m. Light up the Sky lap (if it lights up Favorite Sports Team Lap (repPoker Lap ($2 to enter. For five remember $2 each entry.) No Beach Ball Lap (bring your wear it around the track) laps you receive a card. Straight themes during Luminaria ceremony resent your sports team) beach balls) poker rules apply. Best hand wins. We will also be having Yoga instruction throughout the night.
I relay because I have family members who have lost their life to cancer and some that are survivors. Relay is a great way to raise money to help find a cure and have fun, fundraising at the same time. – Serena
age 16 - Team Mamaʼs Family
I RELAY FOR MY MOTHER By Tya Hughes My name is Tya Hughes, and I’ve been participating with Relay for Life for 14 years. The first year I was on a team, I was 16 years old. I joined with a club from my school, and it ended up igniting a passion in me that has only grown over time. The next year, I lost my mother after about a month long battle with cancer. My family fell apart, my world fell apart. What is a girl supposed to do without her mother at 17? Since cancer has taken her from me, I have married, moved may times, and now have a son. At each milestone in my life I have been grieving her all over again. The hardest part of her absence is watching my son grow up without knowing her, and feeling her love. Answering his questions, “Why don’t you have a moomy?” is heartbreaking. I Relay because I don’t want anyone to have to answer these questions. I don’t want another parent to watch their children grow up without a grandparent. I don’t want others to lose a parent to this awful disease. I will continue to light her candle every year. I Relay in memory of my mother, Kristy Hawkins.
Relay for Life
SURVIVING CANCER
June 2016
By Crystal Witham
If you ask any cancer survivor when they were diagnosed with cancer the date slides off their tongue easier than their birthday. I was diagnosed with Acute Promycitic leukemia, APL July 6, 1999. In six months prior to the cancer diagnosis I went through 20 different antibiotics. July 5th I woke up, put all my medicine in a bag, called an 800 nurse number that my healthcare offered, and was waiting for her to call me back. My husband woke up, looked at me and asked me what I was doing. In a very calm, matter of fact voice I said, “I am dying.” I was literally watching bruises appear on my body while I sat on the edge of the bed. The nurse called me back, told me to get to the emergency room immediately. If I did not have a driver I was to call an ambulance. When we arrived at the hospital they were waiting for me. I was transferred to cancer
care the following day. My oncologist said, “I cannot get you on the study for APL but there is no other way to treat you. Do I have your permission to treat you according to that protocol?” Of course I said yes. I had a 2 percent chance of surviving and that was if I made it through the night. So began my 29-day hospital stay. I had chemo in a brown bag (it could not be exposed to light), chemo in an IV and chemo in a pill. I had IV antibiotics, oral antibiotics, platelets, blood transfusions. Though my hospital stay ended in 29 days my chemo continued for another year and a half. I had IV chemo and pill chemo. The spring following my diagnosis I was asked if I would walk at the Relay for Life in Old Town, Maine. I had never even heard of it but I said yes. I have never experienced anything so moving. All those people walking for family
Ralph Llewellyn, 2015 King of Relay winner and a 18 year survivor of Prostrate Cancer. “I Relay for my grandchildren.”
Submitted Photo
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Everyone knows their diagnose date
members, friends, and guess what, for me too. They didn’t know who I was or my story but the miles they walked provided funds for the cancer research that saved my life. My husband, Eric, and I have walked the relay every year since. We created our own team at home and when we moved to North Dakota we joined a team. It is amazing the energy that goes into these relays. Everyone is walking to save people’s lives. Two and a half years ago I was finally told I do not need to continue to have my blood monitored by cancer care and that my family doctor can now take over my care. I cannot tell you what that meant to me. My Mom had a very aggressive breast cancer and she is a survivor as well. Two things I think everyone should do: Submitted Photo Take control of your healthcare. I knew Crystal Witham once had a 2 percent something was wrong and that my doctor chance of survival. Today, her family doctor was missing it. manages her care.
Submitted Photo
This group photo is the kids from Team Mamaʼs Family who wrote some quotes through this publication.
I relay for my Grandpa and Uncle, who are cancer survivors. Another reason I relay is the money we are raising might help find a cure for cancer. – Myya Falcon
age 11 - Team Mamaʼs Family
Relay for Life
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WHERE TO
PURCHASE LUMINARIA
June 2016
TEAM DONATION
FROM TULIP SALES
Stop by Gerdau and talk to Lori. Cost is $5
I relay for my loved ones who lost their fight to cancer. I also relay for my Grandpa who is a survivor and my friend that is in remission. – Kayla Streitz
age 16 - Team Mamaʼs Family
Submitted Photo
Seasons owner Scott Bethke presents a check for $675 to the Cognizant for a Cure team - this was a donation from the sale of tulips. Pictured are Bethke and Cognizant team member Tamara Gillmore.
Relay for Life
SURVIVING CANCER
June 2016
By ELOISE OGDEN Regional Editor eogden@minotdailynews.com
Lauri Hopwood wears a necklace with a key that has the word “Hope” on it. Another necklace that she wears says “Miracle.” Hopwood, a mortgage banker at Dakotah Bank in Minot, is a cancer survivor. Three years ago on Jan. 26, 2013, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was declared cancer free in October 2013. Today, one of the ways Hopwood gives back to her local community is serving as a team captain for Relay for Life. Relay for Life conducts events for communities to come together to honor cancer survivors, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against a disease. Three years ago on Jan. 26, 2013, Hopwood was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had chemotherapy and radiation. “My husband (Scott) was probably my best support system,” she said, as well as her parents, Mary Novak and Larry Hatchard, and other relatives and friends. “They were very supportive. I have great friends, great family support,” she said. “The bank was amazing,” she said. She said when she told the bank president (G.W. Melgaard was president at the time) she had cancer and probably would need some time off, he told her
teams in prior years but was not as active as she is now since she had cancer. For the past three years she’s been on the Dakotah Bank team called Cancer Crushers. “We’ve been doing things throughout the whole year,” she said. “We’ve done bake sales, barbecues, sold key chains...” The money goes to Relay for Life. Relay for Life will be held June 10
Eloise Ogden/MDN
Lauri Hopwood, of Minot, is a cancer survivor. Sheʼs now a Relay for Life captain leader.
to take whatever time she needed. “They were just very supportive,” she said. “I’m usually a very positive person so I didn’t want people to be sad about everything so we made light of a lot of things. I wore hats and scarves and lost all my hair, eyebrows... so if I wore a scarf they would say, ‘Matey, where’s your pirate hat?’ ” she laughed. “We’d make light of everything – it was really good.” Hopwood was declared cancer free in October 2013. She has PET scans every six months. She had been on Relay for Life
I relay for cancer fighters and survivors. I also relay for my Grandma and Grandpa and for others that have family members with cancer. My favorite event the night of Relay for Life is participating in Miss Relay. – Kristian Streitz
age 14 - Team Mamaʼs Family
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Hopwood lives life to the most every single day
at Minot State University. “We’ll have games and our team is going to sell pulled pork sandwiches,” Hopwood said. She said she enjoys going to the event and seeing so many people rally together. “You don’t realize how many people have been affected by cancer,” she said. “It was very emotional the first year but since then it’s been fun.” Hopwood tries to reach out to any-
one she knows who has cancer to let them know they’re not alone. “It might seem like it’s the end of the world but it really isn’t,” she said. Hopwood said she’s generally – 95 percent of the time – very positive. “I just think you have to have a real positive outlook,” she said. Life means a great deal to her. “I just like to enjoy life and live it to the most every single day,” she said.
Celebrating Cancer Survivors Friday, June 10 5-7 p.m. • MSU, in front of Old Main
e t a r b e l e C fe Li
Cookout celebration prior to the opening ceremonies of the American Cancer Society Relay for Life Cancer survivors, current patients and their families are invited.
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HISTORY OF RELAY FOR LIFE
Relay for Life, the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society, has been a yearly event nationwide and is now in its 30th year. In May 1985, Dr. Gordy Klatt spent 24 grueling hours walking around a track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash. Friends, family and patients watched and supported him while he ran and walked more than 83.6 miles and raised $27,000 through pledges for the fight against cancer. During his seemingly endless laps around the track, Klatt thought of ways to get others to participate. He thought teams could participate in a 24-hour event to raise money to fight cancer. In 1986, 19 teams were part of the first Relay for Life event at Baker Stadium and raised $33,000. Klatt’s vision has since grown into a nationwide event that raises nearly $5 billion in fundraising for cancer research, education, services and advocacy. Today, Relay for Life is a life-changing event that brings people together to celebrate the lives of those who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost and empower individuals and communities to fight the disease. Teams of eight to 15 members gather with tents and sleeping bags to camp out at a local high school, park or fairgrounds and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Relay for Life is an overnight event since cancer never sleeps and each team is asked to have one representative on the track at all times. Cancer survivors are celebrated at Relay for Life when they’re invited to participate in the Survivors Lap, the first lap around the track. There are also luminarias, small bags filled with sand containing candles to make them glow. Each luminaria has the name of a person who has battled cancer. The luminarias burn into the night to honor and memorialize those who have faced cancer as a way to light a path of hope. Relay for Life closes with the upbeat fight back ceremony, which reminds everyone that they have the power to change the course of cancer.
Relay for Life
June 2016
Relay for Life
June 2016
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2016 RELAY FOR LIFE COMMITTEE MEMBERS Event Chair Kim Hunt Event Co-chair Marci Nelson Survivor Chair Heidi Llewellyn Logistics Marci Nelson
Online Luminaria Chair Laurie Stawiszynski Tya Hughes Sponsorship Luminaria Co-Chair Lauri Hopwood Ellen Sipma Advertising/PR Accounting Kari Block Cindy Obenchain PR Liason Registration Lori Francis Lori Francis Mission Delivery/ Jared Francis
Advocacy Tya Hughes Activities Crystal Witham Eric Witham Relay Store Diana Fowler
Silent Auction Stevie-Lynn Moscato Holly Gray Misc. Committee members/floaters Alyssa Staggs James Falcon
Minot Relay Sponsors Flower Box Rainbow Photo Lab, Inc Design Solutions and Integration KMCY-TV Holiday Inn-Riverside Grand Hotel MSU Swenson’s RV Center Cognizant Technology Solutions
Johnson Eyecare & Eyewear Knowles Jewelry ND Guaranty & Title Company Jerome’s Collision Center SRT Communications, Inc. Gerdau Craft Electric Wells Fargo Minot Automotive Center
R & K Contractors, Inc Home Depot Northern Sentry Marketplace Foods Sundre Sand & Gravel Inc ACME Tool Crib Minotauros Hockey Thomas Family Funeral Home
Come & let your hunger be satisifed 858-0777 301 40th Ave. SW, Suite 101 Mon.-Thurs. 11:00-10:00 • Fri.& Sat. 11:00-10:30 • Sun. 11:00-9:00