Difficult to believe Relay for Life of Vance County is just five months away.  Right now, teams are hard at work including the overall committee of people organizing this year’s event, with hearts and souls being pouring into the preparations.

One Relay for Life of Vance County chairperson, Christy Bennett, appeared on WIZS TownTalk today for the first 25 minutes of the show, and you can listen in by clicking here.

Bennett said, “Vance County has done exceptionally well over the years.  When we first started Relay for Life, I think we raised about $56,000.  By 2002, we had raised $313,000.00, which is a large amount for a small county that we are.  I think it’s an amazing amount.  We have not been as high.  We did meet our goal this past year of $75,000, which is still a good amount, but we don’t want to see Relay for Life go away.  It is something that people who fight everyday, who are fighting cancer, need that help.  They need people to work, to volunteer, to want to have hope as they have hope to have another day.  So, we’re working towards an ultimate goal, and, you know, sometimes the money may not be as high as we would like it to be, but every little bit helps.  And when we’re out in the community asking people for help and to volunteer, it doesn’t matter how small, people say I can’t contribute but so much.  It doesn’t matter.  It doesn’t matter how little it is, it still helps.  We’re still fighting for the same goal.”

Vance Relay 2018 will be changed some, moving to downtown Henderson on Breckenridge Street and lasting for 12 hours from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. on June 23.

You can view the Relay for Life of Vance County web page at https://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=88798 or simply click on the banner on wizs.com.

Bennett said the event was moved to hopefully increase participation, and she said it was a rain or shine event, that Relay is about fighting cancer no matter what just like a cancer patient does everyday.

She said a successful Relay was like trying to plan a successful wedding.  “You’ve got your entertainment.  You’ve got your food.  You’ve got you walk.  You’ve got all the things you need to have to bring all this positive energy, so that these people who are fighting (cancer) feel like they’re being embraced by their community, and you’re doing this for them.  So, it takes a lot people.  Right now, we have about 25 people who are really working at trying to plan this event, and we need more.  If we don’t get more, and things don’t change, there won’t be a Relay for Life in years to come.  And I don’t want that to happen.  I want people to embrace it and want to help with it just like any other fundraising that we have in our community,” Bennett said.

To hear more of Bennett’s interview on TownTalk, click here, and start at about the 9 minute mark.

Know the Facts on cancer in the United States:

• In 2017, more than 1.6 million people in the U.S. are expected to be newly diagnosed with cancer, and estimated 600,920 people will die as a result of the disease.
• Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the U.S. exceeded only by heart disease and accounts for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths
• Thanks in part to the work of American Cancer Society, more than 2.1 million deaths from cancer have been averted in the past two decades a – 25% drop in cancer mortality during that time period.
• The Five-Year relative survival rate for all cancers diagnosed between 2007 and 2013 is 69%. This is up from 49% from 1975 to 1977.