Relay For Life kicks off to find cure for cancer 11/14/2009 12:31 AM By ROB NOVIT Senior writer
Dylan Gunnels lost one grandfather to throat cancer. The other was claimed by lung cancer, and Dylan watched him hooked up to respirators on the last night of his life.
Those are two reasons why the 17-year-old South Aiken School junior will serve as captain of the school's Relay For Life team next spring. There's another.
"I never knew my mother," Dylan told a somber audience of volunteers at the Relay kickoff meeting Thursday.
Stephanie Gunnels was just 23 when Dylan was born in November 1992. About a year later, she began to feel ill and felt what she feared was a lump in her breast. A mammogram proved negative, but Dylan's dad, Trey, took his wife to another physician, who ordered a biopsy that proved positive. Her left breast was removed, but her illness persisted.
"I heard many stories from my dad about her great will to fight, and how happy she was during the whole thing," Dylan said. "Dad spoke about how she hated the hospital food, and once a week, Dad would bring her something from a restaurant. She would bless the food that Dad brought."
In July 1994, Stephanie asked her husband to take her to Myrtle Beach for their anniversary. She became ill, however, and had to return to Aiken. She died not long afterward. Dylan's mother wrote a poem about the challenges she had faced, about being tested and yet being blessed in other ways. The poem is framed and has a special place in Dylan's room and in his heart.
"Cancer is a word I really hate," he said. "I'll do what I can to fight the disease."
The captains and other volunteers gathered at First Baptist Church with the three co-chairs - Dr. Holly Woltz and Vindi and Scott McMaster. The kickoff alternated between laughter and tears, celebrating survivors like Shirley Abney and acknowledging the extraordinary challenges that cancer creates for families.
Woltz, beginning her third time as a Relay co-chair, applauded the 2009 co-chairs, Craig Rich and Sheri Still, for raising $183,000. St. Paul Lutheran Church was the No. 4 team in the state last spring, and Bridgestone earned a "shining star" award. Woltz said she had absolutely no doubts that the 2010 campaign would make its goal of $200,000 to help the American Cancer Society with its research efforts.
The McMasters lost their daughter, Carley, to a brain tumor at age 11 in December 2008. When they agreed to join Woltz as Relay co-chairs, they asked Anne Ofoge and her daughter, Avery, to head the Carley's Rays of Hope team for Relay next spring. Avery, now a sixth-grader at Kennedy Middle School, was Carley's close friend.
"It's a way to show our remembrance in a lasting way and keep Carley in the forefront," said Anne. "Avery is wise beyond her years, and her strength helped Carley."
In 2006 Carley was diagnosed with the brain tumor, which was followed by three strokes. After months of treatment in Atlanta, Carley returned to Millbrook Elementary School on a part-time basis. Other kids rallied around her, none more than Avery, who often visited Carley at home and marveled at her courage.
"What she needed was more friends," Avery said. "I couldn't just leave her. I do miss her, but everywhere I go, I really think she's with me. It was a privilege to know her and work with her through cancer. I'm honored to be a part of Relay. I want to find a cure for cancer."
Relay is getting new generations of volunteers now, said Woltz. She is once again looking forward to the big Relay event with the Survivors Walk, the wonderful families, the Locks of Love and the games and food over more than 12 hours.
"We'll light those luminaries and share our lives together and have that gorgeous sign of hope," Woltz said. "That is what we work for. When you put your foot on that track, you can feel the impact and power that you have had."
When Carley was undergoing treatment at MCG's Children's Medical Center, her parents met pediatric oncology nurse Beth Fisher. They called her an angel for her kindness and honest answers to their questions, Vindi said.
Over the years, said Fisher, she and other staffers have become part of many families' historical journeys. The word "cancer" brings so much fear about dying - not just from the patient, but from family and friends.
"Yet we have had many more success stories than even 20 years ago," said Fisher. "But it's still not good enough, because it's not 100 percent."
For more information about getting involved with Aiken Relay For Life, call ACS community manager Michael Brazier at 295-3758.
Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.
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