CARIBOU, Maine — Hundreds of participants stuck it out through the thunderstorms that rolled through the region Friday to walk (and sometimes run or dance) around the track at the Caribou High School during the annual Aroostook County Relay For Life.
Roughly $147,000 was fundraised for the American Cancer Society through the event that, despite the weather, was far more spirited than it ever was soggy. Passionate participants from throughout The County turned out for the event, which finally hit the track officially around 10 p.m. after the storms dissipated. Of the 49 teams that helped raise a few grand shy of that $150,000 mark, volunteer co-chair of The Aroostook County Relay For Life Julie Tucci anticipated that between 200-300 saw the event through, from the rain-delayed start to breakdown the next morning.
Relay for Life had been slated to kick off around 6 p.m. on Friday, opening the first lap of the night with the celebratory and emotional Survivor Lap, featuring the line of purple shirts signifying individuals who have heard what was referred to repeatedly throughout the event as “those horrible three words, ‘you have cancer.’”
Just after organizers secured Survivor Lap’s “red carpet” from blowing in the winds, lightning was spotted and Mike Hart, community executive cirector for the American Cancer Society, had to move the event indoors.
“Any time there’s thunder, it’s never an option,” Hart said, describing how the storm ended up toppling a few tents that had been set up around the track. “We made a good call at a good time.”
Safely indoors, organizers decided around 8 p.m. to go ahead and hold the kick-off Survivor Lap in the gymnasium.
For volunteer Tucci, who oversees the events organization with her sister Karin Howe, the Survivor Lap is her favorite part of the event. She gets to hold the microphone as survivors approach her one-by-one and declare to the world who they are, and how many years they’ve survived cancer.
“Having the Survivor Lap inside was very unexpected because of the storm but — and I have talked to others who felt the same way — it was a very intimate moment,” Tucci said.
“I love it on the track,” she clarified, “don’t get me wrong, but as I was standing there holding that microphone as the survivors walked around the gym, you could see people coming out of the crowd to hug them, and you could hear the cheering in a different way than out on that track,” Tucci said.
Though the crowd had significantly thinned in the two hours between Relay’s scheduled start and the first steps of the Survivor Lap, there were still hundreds of people applauding, cheering and offering high-fives.
Hart oversees all the Relay for Life events in Maine and by doing so, he’s able to see the different things that make each event so special.
“Every Relay for Life is unique; every Relay has their own similarities and differences to the other ones,” he said. “For the Aroostook County Relay for Life, organizers spend a lot of time recruiting survivors and caregivers.”
“We had 180 survivors in our event,” Hart emphasized. “That’s huge. Aroostook County’s uniqueness is that they have a lot of survivors and caregivers that come out to celebrate.”
That crowd of survivors was celebrated with cupcakes, medals and applause that was almost as thunderous as the storm outside.
“You fought against cancer, and some of you may still be fighting as we speak — you’re an inspiration to all of us, and we’re so glad you decided to join us tonight to celebrate,” said Dr. Jay Reynolds, COO of The Aroostook Medical Center, before the start of the Survivor Lap — an event he described as a symbol of solidarity and strength.
While the Survivor Lap and the following Caregiver Lap was filled with hugs, cheers and emotional tears, the third symbolic lap of the evening took on an entirely different tone.
Held at approximately 11 p.m., the Luminaries Lap was held in silence, lit only by the small purple glowsticks worn around the necks of walkers and 1,400 glowing bags bearing the names of friends and loved ones fighting cancer — and those who succumbed to the disease.
Leader of Aroostook County Relay for Life Team Racing for a Cure, Angela Boucher, addressed the crowd before they embarked on their silent lap with a voice that was heavy with grief as she spoke about the recent death of Heidi Graham. Boucher spoke of Graham’s small bucket list — her daughter’s sweet 16 birthday party, watching her son graduate from college, and a little more time spent at camp — and described how each of these list items were successfully checked off “thanks to many prayers, and that one wish I made on a shooting star.”
As the spark behind team Racing for a Cure dimmed in months leading up to Graham’s death, Boucher described how most team members threw in the towel knowing that another fight with cancer was about to be lost.
“When the heartbreaking call came in that night, just one week ago, right after the first round of tears stopped falling, I got mad,” Boucher shared with the crowd. “Mad at cancer, and mad at myself for those negative thoughts. I then began to remember this huge crowd of purple shirts — survivors, albeit now one dear person short.”
“I remember last year’s most determined and toughest Racing for a Cure team member, none other than Heidi — she wore that purple shirt and she wore it proud,” Boucher shared. “That’s when I knew I had to smarten up and not give up; there may not be the cure just yet, but if people like you, all of us, don’t remain determined, then there won’t be a cure in the future for our children and grandchildren.”
While Aroostook County had 49 teams come together and fundraise for the American Cancer Society, smaller independent groups also chipped in their volunteerism — and you don’t get much smaller than 10-year-old Jayde Violette of Van Buren, who fundraised $200 with a little help from her family.
The inspiration behind the donation came from Jayde’s fellow 10-year-old and cousin, Makayla, whose currently in Boston receiving chemotherapy for bone cancer.
“She’s fighting back,” Jayde said with a big smile.
To raise the $200, Jayde hosted a Pampered Chef party with the help of her mom’s friends, and with the help of her little sister, almost 8-year-old Elyssa, she created little handmade crafts out of duct tape that she sold during a Van Buren pageant, as she and her sister hold titles amongst Van Buren’s pageant royalty.
Fundraising for the American Cancer Society was important for Jayde, because she wanted to help people like her cousin.
“It can help them go through the expenses they’ll have to make, because chemotherapy and their hospital bills aren’t exactly cheap,” she explained.
The family attended Relay not only for little Makayla; Jayde’s great-aunt Micheline Lapointe is a 17-year survivor who proudly walked the Survivor Lap.
As even 10-year-olds understood the weight cancer brings to every life, Relay for Life is something five-year participant Barbara McKeen of Mars Hill feels is a great, touching cause.
“This brings the community together for cancer,” she said. “we all have a goal, and that’s to raise money to fight cancer and to beat cancer. I think 100 percent of the people here have been touched by cancer in their life.”
McKeen explained that everyone on the McCain Foods team walked for someone in their families that is either surviving cancer or a family member who lost the fight to cancer. She herself has lost her mother and father, Doris and Mickey Howlett, and most recently her mother-in-law Joan McKeen to cancer.
This year, through some creative fundraising like a basketball tournament and some generous support, the McCain team’s fund-raising efforts surpassed five figures.
“We just hit our $10,000 mark within the past 10 minutes,” McKeen said, right around 11 p.m. Last year, the team raised $5,000.
While the McCain team doubled their fundraising in one year, The Aroostook County Relay for Life has tripled its fundraising over the past four years.
“Back in 2009, we raised about $45,000,” Hart recalled. “It’s a big increase.”
First-year participant and member of Team Camping for a Cure Heather Pinette of Chapman is 100 percent positive she’ll be returning next year.
“As a matter of fact, we’re talking about getting other people to join,” she said.
Pinette lost both her sister and mother to cancer, but remembers their personalities.
“My sister [Darcy] had a larger than life laugh; she was a go-getter, she got up every day and faced it as if it was a brand new day,” Pinette described. “My mother found out she had cancer shortly after my sister had passed away, and [her attitude] was the same — she went at it 100 percent.”
Pinette’s friends quickly (and nicely) pinpointed that she has her sister’s stubbornness and her mom’s fire, but she sees their impact a little different.
“I know what they’ve taught me; and both of them have taught me what fighting this fight meant for them — what it meant for everyone around them,” Pinette said.
While the rain did drench the annual event, McKeen said it really wasn’t that bad.
“I haven’t minded the rain because I’ve done relays were it’s been so cold that your teeth chatter,” she described. “[The crowd] is smaller than usual but you know, people still seem very hyped up to stay. It’s for the cause, and that’s why you’ve still got all these people on the track walking around.”
While the Relayers have concluded another successful fund-raising season, Tucci reminded the resolute crowd that there is still more work to be done.
“Thanks in part to our work here with Relay, every day 440 survivors are celebrating their birthday. We have 14 million cancer survivors in the United States living their lives, loving their families and proving to us that our work with Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society is making a difference,” she said. “But the race is not over until we find a cure.”
