Relay for Life of Scott County to celebrate 20 years

Shakopee Valley News

After you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, talks of treatment and time take over.

It can feel like you’ve lost control of your body and its battle to doctors, medicines and hospitals, former Relay for Life of Scott County Co-Chair Jane Carlson said.

“Relay for Life offers people a place to come and do something physically about (cancer),” Carlson said. “It’s a way to fight back when you feel like you don’t have any way to fight back.”

Relay for Life of Scott County will celebrate its 20th annual event July 14 at Lions Park in Shakopee.

Though there had been walks in Memorial Park for a few years prior, Carlson and fellow former co-chairman Thomas Muelken started the event in its modern form after being approached by a local chapter of the American Cancer Society.

Relay for Life events in more than 27 countries and 5,200 communities raise money for the American Cancer Society cancer research, according to the Relay for Life website.

“That’s why the relay is so important — because of the money raised that can go to research and we can eventually, hopefully, find a cure for cancers of all kinds and be done with it so we don’t have to have relays anymore,” Muelken said.

Scott County's relay alone has raised over $2.5 million in the 19 years since its inception, Relay for Life Community Manager Amy Sundberg said.

The event provides more than just money to an organization, but also a support group to those affected by cancer in some form — which these days, seem to outnumber those who haven’t been affected.

“You don’t find many people who don’t know someone that has been diagnosed with cancer,” Sundberg said. “While we are definitely making progress — the death rate has declined and we are coming up with new treatments every day — it’s still something that affects so many people in the community.”

Relay for Life is a community, Carlson said.

“Whether cancer has touched your life or not, everybody is there supporting everyone,” Carlson said. “There is such a strong sense of faith in getting through what you’ve been diagnosed with and knowing there are people around you to support and uplift you.”

The local relay will be from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m., starting with an opening ceremony followed by a survivor lap and a caregiver lap. A luminaria ceremony will begin at 9:45 p.m., with each lantern representing a life lost to cancer.

Though there are teams that have signed up and raised funds previously, the event will be open to the public with fundraising opportunities, food and activities.

Each year there is usually one honorary co-chair who is a survivor of cancer, all past honorary co-chairs have been invited back in honor of the 20th year.

Former honorary co-chair Loren Wolfe said he will be attending this year’s event, though not as one of the honorary co-chairs. Wolfe, who was diagnosed with stage four melanoma in 2001, typically attends the event as a strolling musician during the survivors' dinner, where he sings and plays guitar.

This year, he will be joined by another survivor and Shakopee resident, Dick Jonckowski.

“It felt good to be a survivor and be a part of it,” Wolfe said. “It’s a community event with a great tradition of participation.”

Relay for Life of Scott County will be accepting donations until August, which can be made at the event but also at www.relayforlife.org/scottcountymn.