Relay for Life Mon Valley: Fun & games in the fight against cancer

By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
The Mon Valley does not play around when it comes to fighting cancer.
That was evident Friday as hundreds of students and residents with their game faces on walked the circle in front of Charleroi Area Elementary School during Relay for Life Mon Valley.
The event began at 10 a.m. with an opening ceremony celebrating people affected by cancer.
Manning tents — representing classic board games, video games and cell phone apps — were more than 70 teams of students from the Belle Vernon Area, Charleroi Area, Elizabeth Forward, Frazier, Ringgold and Monessen school districts, along with the Mon Valley Career and Technology Center, the Fayette Career and Technical Institute nursing program and community organizations.
Participants played games on the grass throughout the campus, beginning with a Hula Hoop contest at 11 a.m., followed by tug of war, an eating contest, volleyball and basketball games and trivia throughout the day, leading up to the survivor lap and ceremony at 6 p.m.
DJ Smoke was spinning tunes as cancer fighters walked from tent to tent to see what teams had to offer.
Some offered games, jewelry or face painting and at nearly every booth there were plenty of tasty treats like snow cones, smoothies, pierogi casserole, barbecue, hot dogs and buffalo chicken dip to raise money for cancer research and treatment.
Across the nation, Relay for Life events are the signature fundraisers for the American Cancer Society.
Teams raise money before and during the event and take turns walking the track throughout the day to signify that cancer never sleeps.
This year, teams based their booths on classic board games and popular video games like Twister, Sorry, Operation, Connect 4, Battleship, Clue, Just Dance and Donkey Kong.
A team from Ringgold promised to “buzz” out cancer based on the board game Operation.
Sophomore Hayley Miller said her team, offering fruit salad and cake batter dessert dip, wanted to do something different.
“We wanted to make sure our booth stood out because this is such a good cause and we wanted to do everything we could to raise money to support it,” she said.
Frazier senior Savannah Smith said her team’s tent was inspired by the popular game Apples to Apples, offering a candy apple bar where participants could choose their own toppings.
While she has been involved with the relay in the past, this year she was on the luminaria committee.
“I started with relay my freshman year, but this year I was on a committee and a lot more involved with planning,” Smith said. “And we all know there are so many people affected by cancer, whether they are students or just members of our community and we want to support them as best as we can.”
Mon Valley YMCA youth team leaders were also represented Friday.
Their booth, also inspired by the game Apples to Apples, had the motto “an apple a day keeps cancer away” and offered a bobbing for apples game that won participants free ice cream.
Chloe Miller said she has been involved in relay for three years, even though she is only a freshman.
Her older sister, Jordan, was previously involved in the event.
“My sister was a part of this group, so as I got older it was something I knew I would be involved in too,” she said.
Personal connection
While some participate for the good of the cause, others feel a personal connection to the mission behind Relay for Life.
A group of Charleroi Area students decided on a Donkey Kong theme to “knock out” cancer.
Sydney Hurley said the relay is more than just another fundraiser.
“This is obviously a good cause, but for me personally it is a lot more than that,” she said. “My grandmother passed away after her fight with cancer four years ago and it is important to me to honor her memory.”
Madison Shrump, a member of the BVA Dance Team, said her booth was inspired by the game, Just Dance. Shrump remembers being involved in Relay for Life from a very young age.
“I have personally been affected by cancer through my family,” she said. “When I was little I would go with my grandfather to events like this. Not only is it a good cause, but it makes me feel really to good to help others and proud to be honoring people who have fought this disease including those in my own family.”
The mission of the day also hit home for Elizabeth Forward senior Bri Skalican, whose booth for the past several years has sold “flower mugs” just in time for Mother’s Day.
“The mugs are donated to us and we plant flowers in them and they always sell really well so we are able to raise a lot of money,” she said. “I have always been an advocate of relay because I have known people who have fought this disease and it just really hits home for me.”
Mon Valley CTC students chose the Game of Life as the theme for their booth this year, largely in part because of the trades they study each day, explained senior team member Amara Behanna.
“That is what we work toward every day,” she said. “What we are going to be doing in our future careers and where our own lives will take us.”
She also knows what it’s like to watch someone close to her battle cancer and call themselves a survivor.
“My sister Olivia was diagnosed with cancer when she was 4 years old,” she said. “She will be 19 this month, but we have been coming to events like this ever since her diagnosis. We are 21 months apart and it is really important for me to be involved in raising money to find a cure.”
It is also nice, Behanna said, to see the community behind the cause.
“Being here really allows you to see how big of a community we are in the Mon Valley and how much of a difference we can make when we work together,” she said. “There is a lot more we could be doing, but what is happening today sets an example of what we are capable of.”
Madison Telegraphis represented the 2019 Monessen senior class with her team, which took inspiration from Scrabble for its table.
“This is the first year we have had a team as a senior class,” she said. “But what we are doing today is really important to me personally because my mom is currently fighting breast cancer and I know there are a lot of other people who have family or friends that this means a lot to.”
Amy Dennis, a nursing instructor at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institute and a registered nurse, said students from the institute have been involved in Relay for Life for many years, but this is her first as instructor.
“Personally, I have had family members pass of cancer and I think the more we can do to raise money the better,” she said. “As a nurse and for my nursing students, I think it is also important to do whatever we can to find a cure to make a better life for our patients.”
Two-time survivor
Survivors were honored at 4:30 p.m. with small gifts and a ceremony, followed by a survivors’ lap recognizing those who have overcome cancer.
A luminaria ceremony took place at dusk to remember loved ones who have lost battles to cancer.
Kathy Cameron, who spoke during the event, knows what it is like to beat the odds.
She has done so more than once.
Cameron shared her story Friday, but it was not her first time attending the event. She spoke at Relay nearly a decade ago after her first diagnosis.
A Monongahela resident, Cameron was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009 after getting her annual mammogram at age 55.
“I had been getting mammograms for 14 years with no problem,” she said. “But then the 15th year came. I will never forget the day I was told my mammogram came back abnormal; it was terrible. My world just fell apart and I could not believe this was happening to me.”
She was preparing to retire from her job with the federal government, but after receiving her diagnosis thought about reconsidering.
“I remember telling my sister that I might as well keep working because I thought I was going to die,” she said.
In December she went to learn the results of her biopsy and received more tests, but the cancer could not be detected on an ultrasound at first.
Conducting a mammogram with capabilities of an MRI machine, doctors were able to find the abnormality in its very early stages and Cameron was scheduled for surgery several weeks later.
She received 36 radiation treatments with six boosts throughout her first diagnosis and beat the disease.
A decade later — during a routine mammogram appointment one year ago — she was once again devastated by the news that her scans showed calcifications, this time in her left breast.
After speaking to her doctor at Monongahela Valley Hospital, they decided to begin treatment right away.
A biopsy revealed the mass was malignant and surgery was scheduled the following week. This time however, her treatment was different.
“I went through radiation for five days,” she said. “From the time I was diagnosed, through my surgery and treatment, it was a total of three weeks. That’s it.”
She credits her life to the technology and staff at Mon Valley Hospital.
“There are a few things you have to do when you are fighting cancer,” she said. “You do not give up. Absolutely not. You remain positive, upbeat and always remember that there are medications and treatment. They have come so far in treating this within the last 10 years, it is no longer a death sentence.”
She said it is also important to believe in your doctors.
I am alive because of the doctors and technology at Mon Valley Hospital. Not only did I have cancer twice, but I chose Mon Valley Hospital twice to get me through it.”
Her nurses and doctors became members of her family, she added.
“The support system I had, through the hospital and at home by my husband Tom and our children, to this day still amazes me,” she said. “My husband always said to me that positive thinking creates positive results and that could not be more true, because they kept me hopeful and today I can say I am cancer free.”
She hopes through sharing her story, women take the time to make their annul appointments and checkups.
“It makes me happy to know that by sharing my story one person might decide to make an appointment for their annual mammogram because that is all it takes,” she said. “I am here today with both of my breasts. I beat cancer, twice, and it is important to me to spread the word as much as I can. There is hope and I want to be an example for that.”
Cameron is preparing to have her annual scan done at MVH May 16.
“On the day of my appointment I will have jitters, but saying today that I am cancer free is remarkable,” she said.
The numbers
Society staff supporter Nancy Verderber said the Mon Valley event is one of the largest in the country. Last year, the event raised about $103,000.
Donations continue to be accepted at www.relayforlife.org/pamonvalley.
A final fundraising total will be available next week, but as of Friday night, the event had already generated more nearly $57,000.
The event was sponsored by Rainmaker Polymers, Monongahela Valley Hospital, The Mon Valley Independent, Lee Supply Company, Russell’s Body and Frame Service Inc., Model Cleaners, Bujanowski Towing, CFS Bank, Highway Appliance Company, Rotolo’s Motors, Guardian Storage and regional sponsors, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, Giant Eagle and GBU Financial.