Relay for life by Chris Hill

My experience with relay for life is one I will not forget. I don't participate in a lot of things through my work, mostly because student life keeps me busy. However, when Derin Harvey approached me about relay for life, I felt strongly that this was something I needed to do. I appreciate how hard Derin worked to make us all aware of the importance of cancer research and how each of us has been affected by cancer in some way. Upon thinking about how I have been affected personally, I remembered that my aunt, my grandma, and my grandpa had all passed away from cancer.During the opening ceremonies, a woman talked about her battle with cancer and how she would not give up, and she spoke on behalf of thousands of others. There were many Cancer survivors there, including our own Derin Harvey. I was very touched as I thought about all of the hundreds of thousands of fearless people that fight cancer everyday to stay alive; for their kids, their families, and themselves. I loved the feeling of walking and running the track for something that I knew was a great cause. I have a new found respect for cancer survivors and the families of those lost to cancer. I will always be willing to show my support for the fight of cancer. Thank you Derin for including us in this wonderful experience!

Relay for life by Lisa Myrick

My thoughts on relay for life. Is how important life is and not wasting one moment, I have family members myself you fought with cancer. I have 2 uncles that lost their battles with cancer however, my dad is in recovery. This has made me appreciate life and the time that I can spend with him. I am able to to take the time that I have with him and write those memories on my heart. This helped me reflect how important people are; they fighting with cancer everyday so that they can have just one more year, one more day, one more hour and last few minutes with their loved ones; to create those loving memories so that those that maybe left behind will always know how much they are loved. To those that are in recovery, I believe know the importance to life and family it becomes more important. To give the time to walk a few laps was nothing compared to fighting cancer, however I felt like I was there helping them in the fight. On the plus side I also got to know some of my co-workers laughed lots.

Relay for life by Leah Hill

Something that stood out in my mind was the idea of fighting back. Some of the people at the event have battled cancer TWICE (I think Derin was one of them!) I think there is power in numbers and it seems the event gives people camaraderie and the reminder that it is a fight and to never give up hope. It also reminds those battling cancer that there are others supporting them and even looking up to them. I know we look up to Derin for rallying the Doba team together in an effort to show her own personal fight against cancer and support others doing the same. Thank you for letting us be apart of that special event Derin. :)

Relay for life by me

My relay stint this year began around 4pm. The temperature was 104 degrees. I sign in for my team and got our little camp spot figured out. I decorated a few luminaria bags for the luminaria ceremony. I did some for family and mostly for the friends I have lost to this horrible disease that keeps trying to take me down as well.
My maternal grandparents Grandma and Grandpa Martinez were the first ones I did. I was so close to my Grams and lost both of them to this crap. I did ones for my paternal grandparents too. Grandma and Grandpa Gossett who also lost life to this crap.
I made one for my friend Kimmy. Remember her? I was the temporary guardian for her young son Gavin. Throughout my experiences I have met some of the strongest and amazing people. I have also buried too many of them. Out of my main cancer support group that I met with the most there are 2 of us left alive. We started out with 12. 10 dear sweet friends in 1 year. WOW!!! That is so upsetting to write. I am bleassed with amazing medical and holistic care. As well as friends who have become family and my family as well. It is because of those people and things that I am here today writing this very emotional blog post.
Anyway back to relay... I did the survivors dinner, and the opening ceremonies. By this time it was about 7pm and still 104 out. I got so sick. I was dehydrated and throwing up. Stupid heat exhaustion. It was so bad that I was not even sweating anymore. My months of preparation were down the tube. :( SAD DAY!!!
I finally found some shade and laid down to try to conquer yet another thing this cancer was trying to take away from me. No such luck. I called my sweet friends and team members to tell them I am OK if they want to quit since I was too sick to continue. They would hear nothing of it. I am blessed remember! They walked, ran and repeated. I went home to rest. In all the team did about 60ish laps and we raised around $1200 out of that $500 was donated by my work doba.com Thank you to everyone who helped prepare, walk, run, donate and everything else! I know without a doubt that without all of you in my life I WOULD NOT be where I am today! You are all truly amazing.

Relay for Life by Matt Bailey

The Relay was an interesting event. There were plenty of people, plenty of flies, plenty of sweat, and plenty of things to do. The track was almost barren when I got there, but I soon found my place in the 6th lane (The one on the outside). It was good to be running and helping the team. I ended up going around about 22 laps. TAKE THAT CANCER! I will kill you cancer. But, back to reality, It was a motivational and inspirational experience.

A quote for comfort

Always laugh when you can... Apologize when you should... And let go of what you can't change... Love deeply & forgive quickly... Take chances & give your everything... Life is too short to be anything but happy... You have to take the good with the bad... Love what you have... Always remember what you had... Forgive & forget...and always remember... that life goes on...

Relay for Life by Kip Wardell

My name is Kip Wardell and I supported Relay-4-Life! I was introduced to the Relay 4 Life through my co-worker Derin who previously had fought cancer. She painstakingly worked her butt off to get people in our office informed about it and committed to attend and support. When I got off work and pulled into the lot at UVU the sun had just gone down and the mosquitoes had just woken up:) jk I saw people young, middle aged, and even some old farts walking the track supporting the cause of cancer research. I made a few laps with my other coworker Chris Hill and by that time the sky was dark and night had set in and the luminary ceremony had begun. A man (who I cant remember his name) shared his story of being diagnosed with cancer on his mission and being sent home and struggling with the devastating effects of chemo. He fought through it and is now cancer free, however the part that touched me was when he shared how he later was asked to sing at a funeral of a friend(a young kid) who also had cancer that he met in the hospital. He said how hard it was to face the reality that he lived yet his younger friend died. Questions like: Why me and not him? or What the hell makes me so special or was it just plain old luck? came across his thought process. He said what he learned is that God has a plan for everyone and each plan is unique. He also said that the only way to stay sane through it all is to laugh a lot. Good advice and a good experience. So I guess the whole "laughing" pep talk must have rubbed off cause Chris and I went shirtless and glowsticked a couple smiley faces on our rippling, perfectly sculpted upper bodies:) and ran around having fun and making asses out of ourselves. I headed out about midnight and was really happy I went to support relay for life and appreciate the invite to participate.