Relay For Life

In just 19 hours I will be participating in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay For Life. It's "an all-night fundraising event to celebrate the lives of those who are living with cancer, remember loved ones lost to cancer, and fight back against the disease." It's a 12 hour event, lasting from 7pm Friday night to 7am Saturday morning. The idea behind it being an all-night event is that a cancer patient has to fight the disease around the clock, cancer never sleeps and neither will we. I'm really not sure if I heard that in some promotional material or if I came up with that explanation on my own. Either way it's true.

I attended Relay For Life last year in my home town but didn't stay for the entire night. I actually only went to participate in the Survivors' Victory Lap, the very first lap kicking off the event. The last day of my last round of chemo had been just 6 days before the event. In a way it was a really nice way to celebrate that I was done with that stage of my treatment. This was before my surgery so I was not on crutches but I was very weak so the one lap was more than enough for me. I went home right after.

I'm nervous about participating this year because it's all night, a lot of walking, and I'm sure I'll be exhausted but I am looking forward to the experience. I'm happy to be participating in the Survivors' Lap again this year. It's hard to explain how it feels to be recognized and celebrated for surviving cancer, but I will say it feels good. There's just so much love and support from everyone who has come to participate. It feels a little strange because I've always thought of my fight as something I had to do, not something I had a choice in. At the same time, it's a giant accomplishment and it's nice to have it acknowledged. It has now been an entire year since I've had any chemo treatments and this is a great event for celebrating that milestone.

I will definitely post an update about the event when, and if, I survive the 12 hours. It may take a couple days as I'm sure I'll want to sleep a good chunk of Saturday. And then I'm actually participating in a 5km walk for the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada on Sunday.


If you would like to support me and the Canadian Cancer Society, you can make an online donation here DONATE NOW!