BRATTLEBORO — Laurie Greenwood of Hinsdale, N.H., recently retired as a safety officer at Brattleboro Union High School. She was first diagnosed with cancer in 2005, and it returned in 2007 and 2008.
But she has been cancer-free for two-and-a-half years, and hopes to stay that way.
On Friday night, she and other cancer survivors took the traditional first lap around the BUHS track to kick off the 2012 Windham County Relay for Life, an annual event that raises money and awareness for cancer research, treatment, and prevention.
According to the Vermont Department of Health, cancer is the second leading cause of death in the state, and there are around 30,000 Vermonters who are living with current or previous diagnoses of the disease.
But that last figure - the number of people who are living with the disease - was the dominant theme at the Relay.
“It's amazing what the doctors can do these days,” Greenwood said. “As long as you have a good team of doctors that will work with you, you'll be okay.”
Greenwood has been to every one of the Relays since it began in 2005. The hardest one, she said, was the first one.
“It was difficult for me since I had just been diagnosed, and I had lost my dad to cancer two years earlier,” she said.
Despite the optimism and the celebration of the survivors, the sense of loss and remembering the lives of those that cancer has claimed is an inescapable undercurrent in this event.
For the Relay's tri-chair, Peter “Fish” Case of WKVT Radio in Brattleboro, the cause is deeply personal. His mother died of the disease in 2007.
“It's been five years since I've talked with my mother,” Case said in a brief speech before the Relay began. “Five years in a lifetime isn't that long, but when a person has been taken from you too soon, it can seem like a lifetime.”
What cancer can't do
However, Case said, while cancer took his mother, he said that “there's a bunch of stuff cancer can't do. It cannot take away our memories. It cannot take away our love. It cannot take away our hope. It cannot kill our spirits. It can knock us down, but it can't prevent us from getting back up. It cannot quiet our courage. It cannot have our resolve. It cannot destroy our faith. It cannot have our confidence. It cannot silence courage.”
That resolve and dedication to fight back, Case said, is why people gather every June at the BUHS track.
“We all want to eradicate cancer, send it packing and let it know it's not welcome on this track, in this town, in this country, and on this planet,” he said.
The Relay has grown over the years, and Case was presented with the 2012 Sandra C. Labaree Volunteer Values Award by the New England division of the American Cancer Society for his role in that growth.
“We've taken it from an average event to one that other counties in Vermont want to emulate,” said Kathy Dunkley, one of the Windham County Relay committee members. “Does Windham County know how to do a Relay? The answer is yes. We have gone from having a $20,000 goal when we started, to having a $110,000 goal this year.”
She gave Case all the credit for building up the event, but Case was quick to credit all the volunteers and participants who have been turning out since 2005.
“I'm proud to share it with all of you,” he said.
This year, there were 43 registered teams and more than 300 participants in the Relay, which started at 6 p.m. Friday, and went through the night until its conclusion on Saturday morning.
Greenwood said she was glad to be part of the Relay again this year, and added that she wanted to stress the importance of going to the doctor regularly for the screening tests that can spot cancer early, so it can be treated quickly.
“Don't put it off,” she said. “Early detection really is the key to fighting cancer.”