Relay For Life Kicks Off South Fork's Fundraising Effort To Cure Cancer

By Brett Mauser

The 2nd Annual Relay For Life will take place next April, with the fundraising goal set at $250,000. Photos by Brett Mauser

Southampton - On Thursday, November 19, Relay For Life's South Fork chapter held its annual kickoff and, staying true to its motto, the crowd celebrated, shared hope for a cure, and once again announced its intentions to fight back against the disease.

The Second Annual South Fork Relay For Life, in which hundreds of community members, including upward of 75 cancer survivors, will walk through the night as part of a mass fundraising effort, will begin at 6 p.m. on April 23, 2010, and last until 6 a.m. on April 24. The 50 teams in the inaugural Relay raised more money than any first-time event in the country last year - $168,800 - and ranked number one in Suffolk County, but this year's committee's goals are even higher - 75 teams and $250,000.

Relay For Life's motto: Celebrate, Hope, Fight Back.

"Every year we have great success stories, but we also have new stories and new people that we need to fight for," said Sharon Wood, co-chairman for the event.

The Southampton Town Recreation Center was approached by Diane Nicholson, the American Cancer Society community executive for the East End of Long Island, in 2007 regarding a potential event being held at the facility, and Wood jumped on the opportunity. In April, 570 participants, including 50 cancer survivors - who Wood calls "the rock stars" of the event - rounded the track at SYS through the night.

Teams consist of eight to 15 members, each of whom is asked to raise a minimum of $150 for the cause. To learn more about you can join the South Fork Relay For Life as an individual or team, or otherwise contribute, visit www.relayforlife.org/southforkny.

Joining Wood in the coordinating effort this year is Sharon Sadowski, a team captain last year who will co-chair the event. Sadowski's Team Chatters raised over $10,000 leading up to last spring's Relay, fifth-most among all teams. On Thursday, Sadowski told of numerous duels that her family has had with cancer - her father is a kidney cancer survivor, her sister-in-law a survivor of cervical cancer, and her grandfather died from breast cancer. In addition to joining the committee, she's made positive changes to her own life, being smoke-free for six-plus months.

What opened Sadowski's eyes was how at last year's Relay kickoff, there were so many members in the community there - "my neighbor, a woman at the gym, the nice woman who works at the bank." She went on to say "I'm ready to eliminate cancer from my vocabulary, and I'm thankful that the community's here to do it with me."

East Hampton teacher and coach Jim Stewart told the crowd of how his daughter Katy's hepato blastoma has changed his family's life and perspective.

Also sharing his story was Sag Harbor's Jim Stewart, whose 10-year-old daughter Katy was diagnosed with hepato blastoma, or cancer of the liver, in April. He told the crowd of the grueling chemotherapy schedule, the constant travel to and from the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the outpouring of support and of what he's learned from the experience. The crowd responded to his daughter's and family's courageous story with a standing ovation as he took his seat.

Southampton Youth Services Board President Mark Antilety said that the building "never shone as brightly as it did that night," referring to last year's Relay. He fought back tears as he spoke about his sister, who has battled melanoma for 17 years. Also sharing her story was Maria Metzger, a biology teacher at Southampton High who was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2008 and since then has experienced everything from chemotherapy to a bilateral mastectomy and a partial hysterectomy. She graduated from radiation in February and has had fantastic check-ups since.

"Cancer is not the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning," Metzger said. "It's not on the front burner. It's on the back burner. I appreciate life more. I love being here. It's made me a better person. I don't care if the sun is shining, I just care that I'm here to experience it. That's the best thing. Cancer has not gotten the best of me."

Advocacy Chair Tom Simson, a prostate cancer survivor, also shared his story, as did Dominique Cummings through her husband, Bob, as she was in Belgium celebrating her mother's 85th birthday. Cummings captains Amy's Angels, named after her sister-in-law, Amy Barth, who lost her fight with ovarian cancer in May. The Angels raised more than $12,000 in just six weeks last year, and in her message, Cummings said "Watch out, here comes Amy's Angels, ready to fight harder and kick some butt again."

Relay For Life began in 1985 in Tacoma, WA, when Dr. Gordon Klatt walked around a track for 24 hours, raising $24,000 for the American Cancer Society. It has become the largest annual not-for-profit fundraising event in the world with more than three million walkers and 600,000 survivors participating. Nearly 5,000 communities in the United States alone have held Relays.