Miami Valley Relay for Life events
Relay for Life of Centerville, May 17-18, 2 p.m. - 8 a.m., Centerville High School
Relay for Life of Champaign Co, May 16-17, 6 p.m. - 12 p.m., Champaign County Fairgrounds, Urbana
Relay for Life of Clark County, June 13-14, 6 p.m. - 12 p.m., Clark County Fair Grounds, Springfield
Relay for Life of Darke Co, July 18-19, 6 p.m. - 12 p.m., Heritage Park, Versailles
Relay for Life of Farmersville/Germantown, June 13-14, 6 p.m. - 12 p.m., Farmersville Community Center, Farmersville
Relay for Life of Greene County, May 31-June 1, 1 p.m. - 7 a.m., Greene County Fair Grounds, Xenia
Relay for Life of Huber Heights, May 17, 4-10 p.m., Wayne High School, Huber Heights
Relay for Life of Kettering, May 17-18, 12 p.m.- 9 a.m., Delco Park, Kettering
Relay for Life of Miamisburg/West Carrollton, August 2-3, 3 p.m. - 9 a.m., Weidner Park, West Carrollton
Relay for Life of Northmont, May 17-18, 4 p.m. - 10 a.m., Northmont High School, Clayton
Relay for Life of Oakwood, July 11-12, 6 p.m. - 12 p.m., Oakwood High School, Dayton
Relay for Life of Riverside Wright Patt Area, June 14-15, 3 p.m. - 9 a.m., Riverside Community Park, Riverside
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Do you have a Personal Journey/Focus on the Positive story? Email contributing writer Beth Anspach at banspach@ymail.com.
POSITIVE NEWS
The Dayton Daily News brings you uplifting human interest news every Thursday in Life.
Though cancer is expected to take the lives of nearly 600,000 Americans in 2014, according to the American Cancer Society, more people than ever before are surviving the disease.
In 2005, Andrea Criss of Dayton suddenly found herself among those thousands of people newly diagnosed with cancer.
“I didn’t have any symptoms,” Criss said. “They found a tumor during my annual exam.”
Though Criss’ father has twice survived colon cancer and both her grandmothers passed away from the disease, her cancer (uterine) was quite unexpected.
“My doctor thought at first it was Stage 1,” she said. “But after having surgery to remove part of it, they realized the tumor was larger than they thought and it was in my lymph nodes.”
Criss ended up having a full hysterectomy and was told after surgery that she faced the possibility of radiation.
“I was in the hospital for four days,” she said. “But after surgery my margins were all clear so I was good to go.”
Focusing on every moment and choosing to think positive, Criss decided not to worry and she soon became among the 82 percent of women who survive uterine cancer at least five years.
“I go back every year for a checkup, but so far, I’ve had no recurrence,” she said.
Criss sees a huge contrast between how her generation viewed cancer and how her son, Kellen, who was in middle school when she was diagnosed, viewed the disease.
“We thought a cancer diagnosis was a death sentence,” Criss said. “But Kellen saw my dad survive it, and we knew other people who survived it through early detection, so it wasn’t really as scary for him when I was diagnosed.”
Four years ago, Criss was asked to join an American Cancer Society Relay for Life team in Huber Heights and has been participating ever since.
“I ended up helping my friend Michelle co-captain and the next year I took it over with my friend Cathy Johnson, who is a cancer survivor,” Criss said. “Pretty much everyone on the team either knows someone or has, themselves, been affected by cancer.”
Criss said she was raised by parents who were always involved in charitable giving in her home country of England, where her parents still live.
“The first year I participated, I thought it was my duty because I am a survivor and I wanted to pay back,” she said. “But since then it’s been my privilege and my pleasure to participate with this awesome and inspiring group of people in Huber Heights.”
Participants in the American Cancer Society Relay for Life events start raising funds months in advance by asking friends and relatives to sign up on their teams and by setting up booths on the day of the event.
“Most teams will sell something on the day of the event,” Criss said. “It could be crafts or bakery goods. There is also a luminary hour and they light up the night with the luminaries with names of people who are currently fighting the disease. It’s quite an emotional part of the event.”
According to Amy Copp, senior representative for community engagement with the American Cancer Society, the Huber Heights Relay has about 25 teams registered with more than 200 people.
“This event started in 2003 and our goal is to raise $27,000,” Copp said of the event, which will take place from 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, May 17 at Wayne High School. “The Relay is supposed to be an overnight event and most are about 18 to 24 hours long. The idea is to mimic what a cancer patient is going through in their journey and all the ups and downs of being tired and excited.”
Last year, the Huber event was shortened because of a lack of volunteers and in-climate weather.
“We are looking for more volunteers,” Copp said. “The goal is to build the event back to a full 18- to 24-hour event once again.”
Criss’ team, dubbed “The Real Housewives of Huber Heights,” is working to raise a total of $1,200 or more for this year’s event, which has a theme of “Be Somebody’s Hero.”
And for the third year in a row, two of Criss’ personal heroes, her parents, Peter and Margaret Bates, will be visiting from England and participating in the event.
“My dad is 79 years old and had his first cancer diagnosis 20 years ago,” Criss said. “He had surgery and oral chemotherapy and did great. They found he had a recurrence about five years ago.”
Peter Bates is signed up as a survivor at the Relay and plans to walk the survivor lap, along with his daughter, on Saturday.
“They come to support me,” Criss said.
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