Why I Relay

• Philanthropy
• 2 Comments on Why I Relay
• Posted on 16 April, 201130 April, 2011
• by Katie Schwartz

Written by: Joanna Isbill

In the fall of 2008, I was on track to finish school and start my new, grown-up, career driven, adult life. I had plans. I knew what my life was going to look like. And let me tell you, it was looking GOOD.

And then I was diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer. I was 24 years old and I was facing cancer. To say I was shocked would be a massive understatement. Graduate school? It wasn’t important anymore. Gone were the plans for starting a career. The life I had mapped out for myself was ripped from my hands. In its place I was given this jumbled mess that I didn’t know what to do with. Life forever changed.

Multiple surgeries and treatments later, I’m still not cancer-free. I’m living with cancer, but you know what? I’m living. It’s not the life I thought I would have, but it’s LIFE. And it’s a good life.

Last year I participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life. This was my first Relay and going into it, I really didn’t know what to expect. When I got there I was shocked. Blown away. Relay was nothing less than awesome. It was one huge celebration of life. There were thousands and thousands of people there with all kinds of booths and vendors set up to raise funds for the ACS. There was even a birthday party for survivors. To really kick off the event, all the survivors and their caregivers joined together and walked a lap around the track. As we were walking, all the other participants lined the track and cheered. When I say “cheered,” I don’t mean waved pom-poms and kicked their legs in the air. These people CHEERED. They whooped and hollered (that’s what we do in the South) and yelled and made me feel treasured.

This was just the beginning. The party continued all night long. Live music. Good food. And thousands of people standing together with the sole purpose of eradicating cancer. I left Relay with the feeling of hope. Hope for my own life, hope for the millions who are living with cancer, and hope for the 1.4 million who will be diagnosed with cancer this year.  And that’s why I’m participating in Relay For Life again this year, to remember that there is still hope and that I’m not alone in this new life I have been given.

If you would like to support me as I Relay, you can donate to the American Cancer Society via my personal fundraising page. If you have a friend or family member who has or had cancer and you would like me to walk in honor or in memory of them, please leave a comment and let me know. I would be proud to walk for your loved ones.

For more details on how the American Cancer Society uses funds raised through Relay, visit “How Donations Make a Difference.”

For more information on Relay For Life, visit http://www.relayforlife.org

Written by: Joanna Isbill

— Joanna and this organization, Relay For Life are near and dear to my heart. I would be tremendously appreciative of any donations you can give. Oh, and if you can share this with, oh, I don’t know, say EVERYONE YOU KNOW, that would be awesome. I know I hock and ask way too much. If I didn’t, imagine who I’d be? A better person? Please…