For Special Education teacher Helen Schaefer, Relay for Life holds a personal significance. As an ovarian cancer survivor, the event provides hope for the future of cancer treatment options.
?For me, it means that our whole community gives up time to make lives better for people with cancer or people who might yet have cancer,? she said.
Schaefer, who has participated in the Vienna Relay For Life every year since its founding in 2004, said the money raised from the participants are used to improve the medications for current cancer patients, as well as finding a cure.
For 24 hours straight, teams of participants camp out at their running sites and are required to have at least one representative on the track at all times. The extremely long length representative of the idea that ?cancer never sleeps,?as stated on the official site.
During the Relay, as Schaefer describes it, ?incredibly moving? Luminaria Ceremony is held as the sun sets over the Relay site. Hundreds of small candle light paper bags line the tack and the spell out the word ?hope? on the stadium sets.
Founded in 1985, the mission of Relay For Life, as stated on their official website, is ?to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease? and raise money for the American Cancer Society.
This year, Relays will be held on Saturday at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology and at Madison High School on June 19.