Rockingham Relay for Life unites citizens in hope for cure

By Steve Lawson

Published: May 17, 2008

Even windy conditions that blew down some tents and kept others from going up failed to diminish the spirits of the hundreds of Rockingham County residents gathered on McMichael High School’s football field for the 2008 Relay for Life event.

Cancer survivors joined hands with their caregivers, family and friends to walk the quarter-mile track around the field overnight Friday into the early-morning hours of Saturday. The united effort intended to symbolize the fight cancer patients face after hearing their diagnosis.

“Relay begins now, as the sun is starting to set,” said event co-chair Julie Cresenzo, as more than 100 survivors moved out to walk the first lap about 6:30 p.m. “The day is getting darker, and this represents the cancer patient’s state of mind as they feel that life is coming to an end.”

In her opening remarks at Friday’s 13th annual Rockingham County Relay for Life, Cresenzo continued her analogy by comparing the deepening hours of evening to the dark and cold emotions of new cancer patients.

“Around 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. represents the time when the cancer patient starts treatments,” she said. “They become exhausted, some sick, not wanting to go on, possibly wanting to give up. Par-ticipants in Relay feel much the same way while walking during these hours. They cannot stop or give up, just as the cancer patient cannot stop or give up.”

The early morning hours just before sunrise symbolize the time when treatments stop and the patient begins to feel they could make it.

“The morning light brings on a new day full of life and excitement for new beginnings for the cancer patient,” Cresenzo said. “When participants leave the Relay, they can think of cancer pa-tients leaving their last treatment. Just as participants are exhausted and weak, so is that person after treatment.”

Survivors walking the track during Friday evening’s first lap covered a broad spectrum. Some battled and overcame cancer several years before Rockingham County’s first Relay event in 1996. Others walked their first Survivors’ Lap on Friday.

“I just found out around Thanksgiving,” said Bob Wyatt of Stoneville.

Wyatt, Stoneville’s former town administrator, walked his first Survivor Lap on Friday. His di-agnosis of skin cancer on his lower right eyelid came as a surprise, but the quick and efficient treatment was even more remarkable.

“The doctor was able to remove that part of my eyelid and make another one with skin from my other eyelid,” Wyatt said. “It’s not even noticeable and I got an eyelift out of it.”
A few tents up from Wyatt’s location, Jack Cipriani stood with his wife, Rockingham County Register of Deeds Rebecca Cipriani. Jack was diagnosed with cancer two years ago – one year after his first heart attack and one year before his second.

“I guess you could say that was a pretty rough three years,” said Cipriani, president of Teamsters Local 391. “But then, everyone always said I was a pretty tough bird.”
Friday marked Cipriani’s second year walking as a survivor, but not his first year to participate in the event. A tragic family history with cancer prompted him to support Relay’s fight for a cure from the beginning.

“I lost my mother, father, brother and sister to cancer,” he said. “In fact, I’m the first sibling in my family to live past the age of 50.”

Cipriani said he has known for many years what it’s like to lose a loved one to cancer, but at-tending Relay now as a survivor adds another dimension to his support of the event and the cause of uniting to raise funds to find a cure.

“We all know how devastating a diagnosis of cancer can be for a person and their family,” he said. “But this event provides a more positive perspective to that.
“It’s like people coming together during times of tragedy or disaster. There’s something about those times that unite us to fight back and cancer is like that. If we could just transfer the unity and support shown here outside into our daily lives, it would make such a difference in our communities, state and nation.”