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Highlands Today

Wind Doesn't Blow Relay For Life's Victory Dance

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By Gary Pinnell | Highlands Today

Published: March 8, 2008

LAKE PLACID — It rained more than an inch, the wind gusted up to 30 mph, and the National Weather Service issued severe storm warnings.

All that postponed and delayed – but did not cancel – the Relay for Life, whose survivors gathered at the football field in Lake Placid until midnight Friday, went home and waited out the weather, and returned before sunrise to resume walking the track and raising money to fight cancer.

Sharion Hudson, this year's coordinator, said 1,000 people showed up to support the 22 teams.

"The track was full, and we had entertainment until midnight," Hudson said.

The group raised $50,000 by 9 a.m. Saturday, well short of the $75,000 goal. Hudson blamed that on the weather.

"But we're still collecting," she said.

The highlight of the entertainment was Marty Chandler, who produced a four-act play to help the audience understand her experience with cancer.

"The first scene is when I was told about cancer," said Chandler, a secretary who works for Hudson at All Around Septic & Sewer. The second scene featured her ironically named little pill basket, which was necessary because the 15 pills she had to take overfilled the medicine closet.

"They cost $300 a month, and I didn't have that. Even with insurance. So the American Cancer Society paid for the pills," Chandler said.

"They pay for everyone. But you have to sign up," Hudson interjected.

The third scene was filled with cards, letters and prayers.

But the third scene was actually about hope and eventual survival, the fourth was about declaring victory. Because Chandler was told she could never had children. Instead, she actually beat the cancer in her body, and she and her husband Willis Chandler Jr. adopted four children. They're foster parenting two more.

Fifty yards away, Dolly Breig picked up the bottom half of a half-gallon milk jug, which held a candle and sand to weigh it down.

"These are going to be recycled," she said. They're luminaries. The one she held had Mikhael Keyser's name written on it.

"His mother raised the most amount as an individual," said Breig. Like everyone at the event, Breig had a story to tell about survival and fulfillment. She survived uterine cancer nine years ago. There was no pain, no warning signs.

"I never knew I had it," Breig said. "When I woke up one morning, I couldn't urinate."

As for Mikhael, Breig knows his story too. He lost a leg to cancer.

"Mikhael is 25 now, and he's in college somewhere, Wisconsin, I think. He learned how to make prosthetics."

For people who have lost limbs, yet another story of facing cancer, and not just surviving, but winning.

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