For cancer survivors, every day is a day of celebration. But they are the ones in the spotlight every year with the Liberty County Relay for Life.
The annual fundraising event was held Friday at the Liberty County Recreation Department’s Long-Bell Stadium track, as 31 teams put up tents to raise money, bring awareness and honor the survivors of cancer, and those whose fights did not end with their ringing of a bell.
Johnny Brown was diagnosed in 1997 and he and his wife took their laps on the track, he adorned with his survivor sash and his wife with her caregiver sash.
“It means that people out there still care,” he said of the Relay for Life. “I wish the word could spread even more, to have more people involved, because cancer is a horrible disease. It does my heart really good to see all these people gathered together here today to celebrate life and the gift from God.”
Caregivers too are honored during the relay, as their role in a patient’s treatment isn’t overlooked by the event. Nor is taken for granted by the survivors.
“I thank God for my wife,” Brown said of his wife Phyllis. “She’s been there by my side every step of the way. Days when I wasn’t feeling good, when I wasn’t feeling good, she was there to lift me up.”
For Bernadette Gissendanner, her victory over cancer is now in its eighth year.
“It is just celebrating, every year, every day, actually, being cancer-free,” she said of Relay for Life.
March 31 marked six years since Andrea Morris rang the bell, signifying the end of her treatments for cancer.
“Relay means the world to me,” she said. “I can relate to everyone who is going through it.”
Morris’ mother succumbed to breast cancer and Morris detailed the outlook needed to continue the fight against cancer.
“With me, I was determined I was not going to let this beat me down,” she said. “Through the grace of God and holding on and believing that I could fight and stay strong, I made it. I made it.”
Morris also draws strength from seeing other survivors at Relay for Life.
“It makes me know that they did not give up and they had faith to hold on and stay strong,” she said. “It is a struggle but you have to want to survive.”
