Dan's Papers - June 20, 2008 - Supporting Relay For Life In Greenport

Oh, I've read about it over the past several years. Even contributed a few dollars, sponsoring a friend who walked round and round in circles at Riverhead High School track. An all-night event, Relay for Life is nationwide, an annual effort. Its purpose is to eliminate cancer. Just that simple.

Now walking in circles all night might be fun - especially for the young and if you walked in comfortable shoes with comfortable friends. And I'd heard there was music, food, all kinds of excitement. So you could forget, for a bit, that you were walking round and round in circles - all night.

But this year was different. A few days ago I walked the Relay (well, not all night) with my husband, as part of the Suffolk County National Bank team, Cutchogue branch. I've just completed six months of chemo - so I know much footwork, headwork, heartwork is needed.

Our footwork was not at the Riverhead High School track, but at Jean Cochran Park on Peconic Lane in Peconic. Southold Town sponsored the event and what an event it was.

I want to tell you about it. No, I must tell you.

Of course I can't tell you everything. Why, there were more than 38 activities listed on the Relay program I picked up as I walked into the park at 5 p.m. Hundreds of other people entered with me, strangers mostly, but mostly North Forkers. I'd get to know some of them quite well in the coming hours.

At 5:30 we headed for Survivor Reception at Southold Town Recreation Center down the road from the park. That meant upbeat people, gifts, a top notch dinner (thank you Soundview restaurant), banjo music. And a huge sheet cake (thanks, this time, to Junda's in Jamesport). Decorated with purple flowers, that cake, emblazoned with the word HOPE, was cut and served by Mattituck's Jeremy Hamilton, a brain cancer survivor. Jeremy and his wife Lauren (their little son Matthew played nearby) had worked untold hours on Relay for Life - as had so many other North Forkers.

At that happy dinner, I was given my survivor T-shirt. I put it on immediately. I'm not aware of how I looked in it - but I know how I felt. Bring on that Jean Cochran track!

The survivor lap came soon enough. At 7 p.m. we began our lap while all the onlookers cheered, applauded, waved, called out our names. I enjoyed it all - felt kind of like an Olympian. The second lap was round and round, survivors accompanied by their caregivers. Those blessed people who were our hands, heart, and hope during the roughest times.

From this point on, team laps continued through the night. Teams composed of many North Fork groups. Live band music, games, pizza snacks, were all part of the story. At 3:30 a.m., the program promised "Music to Soothe Your Soles." Now I'd left before that wee hour but I did appreciate the humor.

You know, I haven't even described the scene for you. I'm sorry. There were tents set up all over the park - each relay team had its own spot. Directing all this activity, from traffic on Peconic Lane, to parking, to answering questions, were our North Fork police officers and our firefighters. They're our hands, heart, and hope, too. If I'd stayed all night, I could have had a bagel breakfast, compliments of Greenport's Harbourfront Deli.

Thousands of dollars were raised on this North Fork night. Dollars to fight cancer. Money came from donors and sponsors. My Virginia grandchildren sponsored me (only fair, after all the Girl Scout cookies and wrapping paper I've bought from them). My youngest sponsor was grade-school guy Shayne Johnson of Southold. Thanks, pal.

The last lap of the event was a clean-up lap. Jean Cochran Park would look as good as new after all the night's activity. But you know, a stray candy wrapper, a left-behind flashlight or jacket, a couple of pillows forgotten - these almost seemed to embellish the park's beauty. For what the clean-up people gathered in were the signs of caring. North Forkers had come together and no doubt about it. T-shirts or not, we're all survivors.