Langley’s seventh Relay for Life was a celebration of life, a way to honour those who have died from cancer, and a convincing community effort to raise thousands of dollars to fight the disease.
The relay, which took place over 12 hours at McLeod Athletic Park from Friday evening to Saturday morning (May 27 and 28), raised more than $277,000 for cancer research and resources.
It was the 92 cancer survivors who received a rousing cheer as they launched the relay in the Survivors Victory Lap. It was led by Diana Biglaw, a nine-year cancer survivor who remarked that the participants “don’t relay for cancer — we relay for life.”
More than 80 teams and around 700 individuals took park.
Among the highlights were The Cancer Sucks All Star Band, a group of local, professional musicians who volunteered their time and talent to fight back against cancer and keep the crowd entertained as they made their way around the track.
Another highlight came from Caitlin Berndt, a long time CCS volunteer, team captain, and caregiver who shared ‘Sarah’s story’ and the lighting of hundreds of luminaries around the track.
The words HOPE and CURE were illuminated in the grandstand.
Relay co-ordinator Shannon Todd Booth said that they were “a testament of why the hundreds of participants fundraise tirelessly leading up to the event and spend a night awake walking the track, symbolic of the fight against cancer, a disease that never sleeps. For one night, neither do we.”
This is an abbreviated version of ‘Sarah’s Story.’
“I’ve been involved with the Canadian Cancer Society for over five years,” Berndt said.
"Thank you very much for coming out tonight to support this amazing event and for all the money that you are raising.
“We stand here tonight at this special time of the Relay for Life — the luminary ceremony. Before I came on stage I closed my eyes, held my breath and remembered why I was here . . . because Sarah is not. On Dec. 9, 2006, Sarah Conway Smith, my goddaughter, was diagnosed at the age of four with a rare malignant brain tumor, choroid plexus carcinoma.
“The words that I want to share with you tonight aren’t the number of surgeries she endured, the rounds of chemo and radiation she survived and the hundreds of needles that were poked into her body, but the moments that I remember about this amazing little girl, who fought this journey with a smile on her face and music in every step, and died with dignity and with her family by her side.
“Sarah was rushed from London Children’s Hospital to Sick Kids in Toronto. This beautiful girl had a tumour the size of an orange in her head and would be operated on immediately. She was given little odds for survival but she was a fighter. Since you’ve never met Sarah you wouldn’t know that the odds were always going to be in her favour … she’d have it no other way… she was not a child with cancer.
“I was home in London, Ontario, where Sarah lives, in late January of this year. Sarah and I slept side by side on my final night there.
“Sleep was always tough for her because she had so much to do in her life . . . dancing and singing and time with all of her friends. But there in the darkness of the night we lay face to face. I cherished every minute and felt the silent tears of joy for just being with her in that moment.
“On March 1, only three months ago and a few short weeks after my departure, was a strange day for me. In the shower I listened to the radio and heard that it was Justin Bieber’s birthday. One of Sarah’s many husbands to be . . . and the light of her life, right after her dad. At 1:13 p.m. with the sun shining brightly on her face and the song Hey Jude, her special song, playing in the background and her family by her side, she took her last breath. She was not a child with cancer.
“When I tried to answer the question “Why did things have to be this way for Sarah?” the answer is: I believe that when God brings a child like Sarah into the world, the perfection that he seeks is in the way people react to her.
"Life is never a walk through an open field. The day that Sarah took my hand and asked me to walk her journey with her was the day that changed my life forever. She taught me the bonds of family are strong, that our hearts are capable of overwhelming love and giving, and that losing this little girl isn’t the end of the world — it just makes the days that much harder.
"Each luminary that is lit tonight represents those we honour and those we’ve lost. I walk with all of you tonight at the Relay for Life, feeling the pain of the loss and the joy of remembering those from your life. Please walk with me. Thank you.”
