American Cancer Society's Relay For Life Survivor Dinner

I was privileged enough to be asked to help support this years ACS Relay For Life Survivor Dinner in Hallsville last night. It was quite an experience. I don't know why but this cause has really struck a nerve with me. It's something that I feel strongly about. I've never had anyone in my immediate family stricken with this deadly disease although I have known some friends that have had it and Lana's grandmother is a survivor and she battled it before we met. So, I guess you can say I'm lucky, or better, blessed, that it's never hit that close to home with me. What I saw last night was a room full of brave people that I was glad I had the chance to meet, if only for a few minutes. One the last things that we did was ask how long the people there have been cancer survivors. We started at 5 years, then 10, then 15. It was amazing, the longest cancer survivor in the room was at 23 years!!! She's living proof that this horrible disease can be beat and I hope that she gave some hope to the others in the room who may not have been battling as long as she has.

I picked this up from the dinner last night.

It's a short poem titled, What Cancer Cannot Do

What Cancer Cannot DoIt cannot cripple love
It cannot shatter hope
It cannot corrode faith
It cannot destroy peace
It cannot destroy friendship
It cannot suppress memories
It cannot silence courage
It cannot invade the soul
It cannot steal eternal life
It canot conquer the spirit
Cancer is SO limited

This is the 25th anniversary of the Relay For Life. It was started by a doc in Washington who tried to raise money for the local cancer treatment center. He was a runner and he pesonally raised $25,000 that year, running for the cause. It's grown quite a bit since then. You probably don't have to look to far in your circle of friends to find someone who is involved with the ACS' Relay For Life. Find that person and help the cause out by donating what you can. If not, most of the relays are this weekend. Take a bit of time and go up there and walk for 30 minutes or an hour, or whatever you can. I was there last year, it was inspiring to see all of the people there that were coming out for the cause.

Here is the website www.relayforlife.org

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