My Little Survivor

Relay For Life - Newberg
June 19&20, 2009

Last weekend we participated in the Relay For Life to benefit the American Cancer Society. We were on a team called "Austin Angels", for Jesse's school and the the two sweet cancer patients that go there. The team was full of the school staff and their friends and family members. Jesse is not the only student at his school who has had cancer, there is a little girl named Maddy who has just finished therapy for Leukemia. Both kids are doing great now and looked fabulous in their purple survivor shirts.


The event is a 24 hour relay race where participants walk (or run) around a track for the entire time. At least one member of the team has to be on the track every hour. Usually team members take turns for an hour at a time. Of course there are many teams with several members on each team. The race was held at our high school so there was plenty of room for people to pitch tents and set up for the whole night. We only stayed until about 10:30 because Jesse just couldn't stay up much later than that.

To start the event, all the survivors line up and make one kick off lap around the track, then the race officially begins. The survivors were lined up by date of diagnosis, so Jesse was right in the front of the line, being diagnosed less than a year ago. It wasn't planned, but he and Maddy led the lap and carried the banner. It was amazing and emotional to watch. I was so proud of him!

After the Survivors Lap all the survivors and their families were treated to a nice dinner. It was especially good for Jesse to see how many other people had survived cancer. He was amazed by all the purple shirts and I realized that he thought he and the few kids he saw in the hospital were the only people to have this type of illness. When it got dark, luminaries were lit and lined the track, the luminaries were purchased by the participates either in memory of some one who has passed away from cancer, or in support of someone who has survived or is living with cancer. There must have been a thousand or more. Then everyone came off the track and they read every name. Again, it was very emotional!

After we went home and slept, we went back to the race and walked for the last hour and a half... Then they served ice cream... I think that was Jesse's favorite part.

Relay For Life is held in every city and community all around the United States. Newberg is a small community so I guess our race was small compared to other larger city's. Jesse and Maddy and one other little girl who looked to be about 8 or 9 were the only children I saw wearing purple shirts. There were people of all ages, having had cancer many years ago, to people undergoing treatment right now. Our little race raised over $55,000.00 for the American Cancer Society. It was a sobering experience. I suggest every person participate at least once. I think the Fontenot's are relayers for life!! :)