Take a lap around the track at the McLeod Athletic Park this Friday evening.
This June 9, the annual Canadian Cancer Society Relay for Life arrives, with a kickoff at 6 p.m. As usual, there will be fun and food, games and entertainment.
There will also be sombre moments, as luminaries are lit around the track after dark.
The event is for both remembrance of those lost, and for fighting back against the scourge of cancer.
Even if you aren’t on one of the dozens of teams, even if you aren’t a volunteer, even if you aren’t a cancer survivor yourself – drop by anyway. Drop a donation off, and take a few laps around the track.
The walk isn’t strictly necessary, but it feels better to put one foot in front of the other for a cause.
Every lap around the track is linked to a dollar, or two, or 10, that has gone into researching cancer.
Cancer isn’t going to be cured tomorrow. There are hundreds of types of cancer, with numerous causes. There is much we still don’t know about it, about how it turns healthy cells destructive and sends them out of control.
But doctors and scientists have made tremendous progress in the past half century. There are therapies on offer in B.C. that were undreamed of just a few years ago.
Every step around the track is one step closer to the end of the long journey – from the point where we fear cancer, to the place where it’s cured, settled, dealt with.
So come by Friday night, visit the Relay. Take a few steps on the journey.
– M.C.