By Andrew Martins
Staff Writer
JACKSON – The competition and spirit of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, will also be found in Jackson in May at the community’s annual Relay For Life event.
The Relay for Life Planning Committee unveiled the Summer Olympics theme during a Jan. 26 kickoff event held at Meridian Health Village, Jackson.
“We are excited because this year’s event falls in line with the Olympics,” Jackson Relay for Life co-chair Sandra Winant said. “People are encouraged when they create their teams to represent a country that is actually participating in the Olympics.”
According to the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Facts and Figures report, there were 14.5 million cancer survivors living in the United States at the start of 2014. The society estimates there will be about 1.7 million new cancer diagnoses this year, including about 50,000 new cancer cases in New Jersey.
Relay For Life participants will check in at 3 p.m. May 21 at Jackson Liberty High School, North Hope Chapel Road. Individuals and teams will walk around the track in the gymnasium during the night and participate in various activities until the event ends on the morning of May 22. There will be a luminaria ceremony held to honor people who have lost their battle with cancer.
The American Cancer Society estimates there will be more than 596,000 cancer deaths in the nation this year.
“We all have one degree of separation from cancer – whether it’s a family member, a neighbor or a co-worker,” Winant said.
In 2015, the Jackson Relay For Life raised more than $51,000. Organizers of the event had set a fundraising goal of $40,000.
This year, Winant said, the goal is to surpass $55,000.
As of Jan. 19, the Jackson Relay For Life had 17 teams comprised of 61 participants signed up. More than $4,000 has already been raised.
“If we can all come together and pool our resources, we can hopefully see an end to cancer in our lifetime,” said Winant, who survived a breast cancer diagnosis in 2013.
According to Winant, her participation with Relay For Life began when her daughter, Jennalyn, became active in Relay For Life in 2012 as a member of the Jackson Memorial High School Key Club.
It wasn’t until Winant and her mother were both diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013 that Winant said she began paying attention to what her daughter was doing.
“All along, my daughter was involved because she was doing it for [her grandfather], but then I had to tell her she was also walking for [her grandmother] and me,” Winant said.
Following what she described as an emotionally difficult Relay For Life in 2013, Winant said she realized how important an event like the Relay For Life is for cancer patients and survivors.
“When I came home, I felt lost. I didn’t know what to do and a woman from the American Cancer Society called and checked up on me,” Winant said. “It was wonderful to know I had someone to talk to and to tell me it was OK to feel the way I did. It was just so reassuring because I did feel lost and no one I knew had gone through it.”
Following her treatment, Winant said, she was selected to speak as a survivor during the 2014 Relay For Life. When Jennalyn left for Boston College, Winant was selected to take her place on the Planning Committee.
Since then, Winant and her son, Andrew, a student a Jackson Liberty High School, have been working to plan the 2016 Jackson Relay For Life. Jennalyn has joined the Boston College Relay For Life Committee.
“Relay has become a family event,” Winant said. “Relay has brought us together as a family and as a mother, I am proud to know how compassionate my children are and how they want to be involved to help others.”
To participate in or to learn more about the Jackson Relay for Life, visit www.relayforlife.org. Donations may be made through the website.
