Sitka residents can honor friends and family who have battled cancer while raising money for cancer research and patient services by participating in the Relay For Life of Sitka. The event takes place from 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, through 8 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 16, at the Moller Field track.
Relay team members will take turns walking or running around the track as part of the family oriented fundraisers. There will be food, games and other fun to build camaraderie during the event. At night, luminarias (bags with sand and candles in them) will be lit in honor of people who have had cancer.
“The Relay For Life of Sitka is a community event where we can celebrate, remember and fight back against cancer,” said Tristan Walsh, Relay For Life specialist for the Anchorage office of the American Cancer Society. “All money raised from the Relay For Life of Sitka goes toward cancer research and patient services, both of which benefit local Alaskans. In 2013, the Relay For Life helped 35 patients in Sitka who were diagnosed with cancer. Besides advice on cancer therapies and treatment, counseling and wigs, we lodged patients and their families in hotels (for free) while they got treatment in places like Anchorage and Seattle.”
The American Cancer Society helped fund the discovery of chemotherapy, radiation, mammography, and the mapping of the breast cancer genome. Today, there are patients all over Alaska who benefit from the research that Alaskans help sponsor — including some drugs like Gleevec, which enables some leukemia patients to turn their cancer into a manageable condition, without need of invasive surgery or harmful treatment. Every year, the American Cancer Society funds thousands of doctors and scientists to make this cancer’s last century.
For more information, contact Ellen Rhule at (360) 202-7301 or gleaner1908@yahoo.com.
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