By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
Each spring thousands of people across the United States stay up all night walking, but they are not all sleepwalking. They walk to raise cancer awareness and to remember those taken by the disease.
“The relays go through the night because cancer never sleeps,” said Stephanie Watts, community representative for the American Cancer Society’s (ACS) Pasco Unit. “The relays are 18 hours long and the goal is to first raise awareness about cancer so people get screenings to detect it as early as possible. It also raises money for the ACS to fight the disease.”
Watts, who is born and raised in Pasco Lutz, has worked with ACS for more than two years. She estimates that 10,000 people will participate in Pasco relays this year.
Each relay’s theme and size vary, but the first in Pasco is always in Zephyrhills.
“Our theme this year is ‘close the book on cancer,’” said Tammy Struble, chairwoman for the Zephyrhills relay. “We’ll start the evening with a survivor dinner at 5 p.m. and then we’ll have our survivor lap at 6 p.m. Anyone who had or has cancer walks the first lap of the night.”
When asked why those with cancer participate in the survivor lap, Watts said, “We believe you’re a survivor the day you’re diagnosed with cancer. The lap is very powerful and emotional, especially for those who have been newly diagnosed.”
The survivor lap is one of the constants at all relays.
Mary “Mud” Lane has been participating in the Zephyrhills relay for four years and is a co-captain for Team Trouble with Struble.
“It’s something you don’t want to miss,” Lane said of the survivor lap. “The relay is wonderful and it’s a good cause because the money goes to those who need it.”
Struble said Team Trouble started four years ago with a group of family and friends. It now includes several of Struble’s co-workers from H&R Block. The company’s Zephyrhills and Dade City locations have been helping the team raise money that will be presented to the ACS at the relay March 26.
“The different relay teams raise money throughout the year with events like potluck dinners,” Watts said. “The teams will also have different activities at their tents along the track during each relay. The activities usually cost a couple of dollars and are family friendly.”
The combined money is donated to the ACS during each relay. Teams are given various awards based on how much money it raises. Teams get a bronze award for donating $2,500 or a silver one for giving $5,000. If a team brings in $10,000 it receives gold status.
The Pasco relays raised close to $600,000 last year according to Watts. Of that, $66,000 came from the Zephyrhills relay. The goal for this year is $651,000.
All relays in Pasco have to keep their administrative costs lower than 10 percent to insure that most of the money goes where donators intended. The Zephyrhills relay keeps its administrative costs at three percent according to Struble.
“The relays are a partnership between ACS employees like myself and the wonderful volunteers like Tammy and all the others in Pasco County,” Watts said. “There are 200,000 volunteers just in Florida and only 400 staff, so it’s the volunteers who make the relays happen.”
All three women began working or volunteering with ACS because their lives were touched by cancer.
“Both my father (Phil Hane) and stepfather (Fred Otto) died of cancer,” Struble said. “My father had prostate cancer and my stepfather died just last year of lymphoma…It’s a disease that I think has touched everyone and I just wanted to do something to help fight it.”
Watts agrees with Struble on cancer’s reach.
“I haven’t met someone that wasn’t touched by cancer in some way,” Watts said. “My great-grandma (Minnie Belle Nelson) had ovarian cancer, which is called the silent killer because women don’t usually start having signs until it has progressed too far. I remember her battle with cancer and it changed my life.”
Lane was directly affected by the disease.
“I’m a 26-year survivor of thyroid cancer and my daughter Whitney is an 11-year survivor of (thyroid cancer) too,” Lane said. “I’m a professional hair dresser and I’ve started doing the ‘Look Good…Feel Better’ programs at the Florida Cancer Institute-New Hope on Gall
