Tehachapi News

Relay for Life teams fired up

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Tehachapi's biggest charity fund-raising event of the year is ready for takeoff Saturday, July 11 as teams prepare to round the track at Coy Burnett Stadium for 24 hours straight.

Participating teams must have a member on the track at all times - walking, running or wheelchairing - from 9 a.m. Saturday to 9 a.m. Sunday, when breakfast for all will mark the end of the marathon event. Opening ceremonies begin at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Fifty-one teams are registered to participate in the event and there may be more.

“I think it's going to be one of the best we've ever had,” said Lori Morrison, the American Cancer Society Staff Partner for the event. “We could field as many as 55 teams.”

A team must have a minimum of 10 people. A full team is 24.

Thirty people are serving on the Tehachapi planning committee, and many volunteers also are involved.

“It takes a lot of people to produce this event,” Morrison said. “We have an amazing group of volunteers leading the charge this year.”

Susan Mueller is the 2009 Relay for Life chairman; Duana Pera is co-chairman.

“It's running very smoothly,” Mueller said. “I've been a part of the Relay for all the six years and it's the best I've ever seen.”

Last year the event earned $106,000 for cancer research and patient services.

“This year's goal is $120,000,” Morrison said. “We are on track to do so.”

Individual participants commit to raising $100 each, and teams carry out various fundraising activities to increase pledges.

“Sixty percent of every dollar stays in California,” Morrison said. The other 40 percent goes to the American Cancer Society's headquarters in Atlanta.

A portion of that 40 percent comes back to California in form of research grants, she said.

Everyone welcome

The Relay for Life is a “fun, family-friendly event,” Morrison said.

“Even if you aren't on a team, everyone come out,” said Rachel De Luna, a nurse at Tehachapi Hospital and co-team captain with hospital unit coordinator Lisa Montgomery of the Tehachapi Healthcare District team, “Kid Crusaders.”

“There are so many things going on - entertainment, live bands, stuff for kids, jumpers, games - each team has something a little different.”

The Tehachapi Hospital Guild will raffle baskets and a homemade quilt.

De Luna said as of July 1, her team “maxed out” and she split it into two teams.

During the 24-hour event, teams will walk a cardboard car to symbolize the people who drive cancer patients to appointments.

“It's a fight back moment,” Mueller said.

Each team decorates a space that will be judged by a group of cancer survivors, Mueller said.

“There will be flying kites, fun things all night, a pizza party at midnight, movies,” she said. “Please urge cancer survivors to come.”

Reasons to Relay

Everyone who is involved in the relay has his or her own reason for being there.

“Everyone either knows somebody or they are close to somebody, a family member or a friend, who is affected by cancer,” De Luna said. “It hits children and adults. Everyone should be involved.”

For Kasey DiRado, team captain of the “Bank of the West Bears,” the reason is close to home.

“I lost my grandpa in 2001 from small cell oat lung cancer,” DiRado said. “Grandpa and I were very close and it just devastated me.”

Boy Scout Troop 136 team “Scouting for the Cure,” under Scoutmaster and team captain Sam McKeehan, participates in memory of Stephen Shy, the late son of Carol and Don Shy.

Stephen Shy, the first Eagle Scout from Troop 136, died in 2006 at age of 23 of a rare muscle cancer that attacked his heart. He had attended the Relay for Life the year before as a cancer survivor.

“He was loved by all,” said Duana Pera, who started the scout team in 2004.

Kimberly Taylor, co-captain of “Imagine the Cure I,” one of two GE teams, said on the Relay for Life web site that she will be walking to honor her family members who lost their battle with cancer and for “my best friend's father, Frank Quinn, who recently lost his battle with cancer on March 8, 2009. I will also be walking in honor of members of my GE family that are currently fighting this disease.”

Team captain Diane Sebra of the Mountain Martial Arts team, on the Relay for Life web site, said, “I have lost too many family members to this ugly, painful disease. It has been allowed to run rampant for too long! It's time to take out the trash!”

That's not all.

“I am a cancer survivor,” Sebra wrote on the web site.

It's the first year of participation for a team from New Life Christian School.

“One of our staff members has cancer, and that is why we are walking,” said Ami Moser, school director. “Because we're a preschool, our parents are walking with us to support our staff and members of their families who have cancer.”

The New Life Christian School team will hand out information about breast cancer and ovarian cancer at its booth.

One team is dedicated to defeating cancer in animals.

“Four years ago I lost my Chow to gastric carcinoma (stomach cancer),” said Barbara Villasenor, captain of “Paws for a Cause.”

Villasenor teamed up with veterinarian Dr. Beverly Billingsley to create a team for animals.

“Animals can get the same kinds of cancers as humans,” Villasenor said.

Animals undergo radiology and chemotherapy, just like humans, she said.

“Paws for a Cause” team will raffle baskets of dog and cat treats. The team's proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society, just like the other teams.

Villasenor has another reason for participating in Relay for Life.

Her father died a month ago of cancer of the esophagus.

For more information

To go directly to information on the Tehachapi event, see the American Cancer Society Relay for Life web site  http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=13828, or type in: relay for life Tehachapi.

Coy Burnett Stadium is at 711 E. Tehachapi Blvd. between Snyder Street and Dennison Road.