Hermiston Relay for Life Tops Fund-Raising Goal

A sea of purple and white moved through the Umatilla County Fairgrounds on Friday night as hundreds gathered for the annual Hermiston Relay for Life.

In the opening ceremony, Mary Hensal of Hermiston asked those on site to remember why they participate in Relay for Life. Hensal held up a sign she made years ago with “I Relay for My Sisters” scrawled in black marker between the printed text “My reason to Relay.”

On Friday, Hensal, a two-time cancer survivor, said her youngest sister was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer two weeks ago, making her the fifth member of a six-member immediate family to battle cancer.

“This means more to me now than when I wrote it,” Hensal said, holding up the sign. “When she heard the words, ‘You have cancer,’ she went numb. I guess I still am, too. She didn’t expect to get cancer. She shouldn’t have to hear those words.”

For most at the event, cancer is a personal experience. Teams listed friends, parents and children as their “reason to relay.”

More than 100 people participated in the short “survivor’s lap” on Friday, where cancer survivors and their caregivers start off the relay.

This year’s grand marshals were Paul and Charlotte Saunders of Hermiston.

Started in Tacoma in 1985, Relay for Life is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. Teams of participants walk a track in a sponsor-driven, all-night walk. The event kicks off in the early evening and continues until the next morning, and is meant to symbolize the path of surviving cancer from darkness to daybreak. More than 5,200 Relays take place every year, raising $400 million annually.

Hermiston’s event kicked off at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at 10 a.m. Saturday. Twenty-eight teams with 312 people participated in the fundraiser, and, as of Saturday afternoon, the fund-raising total was just shy of $84,000. This year’s goal was $71,000.

In addition to the walk, Hermiston Relay for Life also included concession sales, raffles and a silent auction. There was entertainment throughout the event, including kids’ games, an inflatable water slide, a pie-eating contest, tai chi and Zumba.

Proceeds from the event, as with all Relay for Life programs, go to cancer research, treatment and prevention. Hensal said Relay for Life and other American Cancer Society events work to end the disease and encouraged everyone to get involved.

“What’s in your heart right now?” she asked the crowd on Friday. “Keep it going. What kind of difference do you want to make? Each lap around the track does lead to more birthdays, a day of less suffering, a day where you will never have to hear the words ‘You have cancer.’ ”