RC Relay fights for a world with more birthdays

Relay For Life is the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who are battling cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.

This is the motto of the Relay For Life and all three aspects were part of the observance held last weekend at the Moberly High School track.

The event was kicked off with a survivor lap of several hundred participants. Some of the survivors were pushed in wheelchairs by their care givers. Some survivors walked with their grandchildren. A few children, also survivors of the dread disease, walked with their parents.

Molly and Steve Nuhn are primary organizers for the Randolph County Relay for Life. Their ordeal with cancer began when their son Spencer, then just one-year-old, was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Surgery was required to remove a grapefruit-size tumor. Spencer is now a teen and helped with behind-the-scenes activities during the Relay event.

Dorinda Dameron, one of the survivor coordinators, showed up at Relay with her grandson Cooper.

Dameron’s eldest daughter Laversa was diagnosed with cancer as a baby. She underwent five years of constant treatment until her cancer was eradicated. Doctors told Dorinda her daughter would never have children because of all the chemotherapy she had had but Cooper the healthy miracle baby proved them wrong.

Dawn Pflughaupt and many members of her family came to celebrate Dawn’s “second birthday”. She was diagnosed with leukemia January 9, 2008. Her prognosis was poor and she endured months of chemotherapy and radiation. On June 5 she underwent a bone marrow transplant with her brother as the donor. She has been cancer-free since. Dawn says it has caused her to cherish life more and finds Relay and great way to celebrate her new birthday with her family.

Teams formed in February and did a large variety of things to earn money for the cause. During the Relay, tents lined up with teams continuing their efforts to raise money. Jim Summers allowed himself to be duct taped to a board, $1 per tape strip, to make money for the Huntsville First Baptist Church team. The St. Pius Youth Group sold funnel cakes. The GBE Walkers served purple lemonade.

And through all the fun, they walked. At least one member from each team was on the track from the start of the Relay at 6 p.m. Friday, to 6 a.m. Saturday morning, with the exception of a half-hour downpour around 2 a.m. At 9 p.m., the luminaries were lit. Luminaries that encircled the quarter-mile track with names of those “in honor” for those who have survived, and those “in memory” for the people who finally lost their battle. The music was turned off and the mood turned somber as names were read by Bill Peterson, again “in memory of” and “in honor of”.

But the mood lifted as once again the survivors were celebrated and those lost remembered with an explosion of fireworks donated by Walter Haley’s Fireworks.

For information on how to contribute to the American Cancer Society or to form a team for next year’s Relay, contact Steve and Molly Nuhn at msnuhn@swbell.net or Gina Mulnix, co-chair, at mulnixgm@yahoo.com.

See more Relay photos on the Mirror Photo Gallery.