Relay for Life of Apollo marks 24 years of fighting for cancer cure
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They’re old pros at the Relay for Life of Apollo.
Too windy to keep the purple-and-white inflatable arch up at the track? Take it down. The T-shirts belong here, the luminarias over there.
The signs and banners lined the fence around the Apollo-Ridge High School track Saturday in Kiski Township and the walkers were ready to go as the 24th Relay for Life of Apollo got under way during a mild-but-windy spring day.
The event there is the oldest in the Alle-Kiski Valley, having started in 1996, according to one of its organizers, Donna Zukas. She’s been involved since it started and keeps involved because there’s still work to be done in the fight to cure cancer.
“They keep coming up with new treatments all the time,” Zukas said.
This year’s total was $67,617 as the walkers started their laps around the track Saturday, Zukas said.
Since it started, the Apollo event has raised more than $3.25 million.
On Saturday night, more than 100 cancer survivors attended a banquet at the school followed by a survivors lap at the Relay, Zukas said.
The nine teams participating was down — in 1999 there were 99 teams, Zukas said — but that was before more Relays for Life were organized in the Valley.
They keep walking in Apollo and they’ll keep walking because people with cancer still need to be helped, she said.
The event drew people of all ages, including a group of Lutheran faithful from three A-K Valley churches who came together to participate.
The Rev. Ryan Pusch, who pastors Hebron Lutheran Church in Leechburg and St. Paul’s Highfield Lutheran near Vandergrift, walked in the relay and offered the opening prayer.
Before doing so, he shared a story of growing up and how his mother was saddened by the loss of a young neighbor who had died of cancer.
Pusch’s mom wasn’t saddened because she knew the family well, but instead had realized it easily could have been herself facing the burden of losing a child to cancer.
“It could have happened to anybody at any time,” Pusch said. “Cancer doesn’t affect some of us, it effects all of us.”
The impact of the disease goes beyond those who have it or those who’ve survived treatment. It also affects the caregivers, families, friends and neighbors.
“All of us will in our lifetimes feel that cold touch of cancer,” Pusch said.