Celebrate, remember, fight back.

This was the theme for the 10th annual Relay For Life, at Huyck Stadium, starting Saturday morning and ending this morning.

“It's not just a beautiful day, it's a beautiful day because we're still here. It's also a beautiful day because we're one year closer to a cure for these horrendous diseases,” Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWees, wearing the purple shirt of a cancer survivor, said during the opening ceremonies.

Celebrate

The 10th anniversary of the Relay For Life was celebrated by many of the 43 teams that set up camp in Huyck Stadium's grassy oval, with anniversary cake displays to mark the occasion.

Each team competes to raise the most money for the Relay, as well as to keep at least one team member walking the track for the entire 23 hours.

The event is expected to raise more than $200,000 for the American Cancer Society, thanks to the effort of the teams and volunteers.

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The Relay's first lap, the survivors' lap, saw more than 100 purple-shirted walkers of all ages take to the starting line, where a ribbon was cut and participants began walking.

“This is my first year,” said walker and leukemia survivor Joann Banuelos of Lompoc.

In the past Banuelos had heard about the Relay for Life, but said she always worked Saturdays and did not participate.

In March 2007, Banuelos went to a doctor's appointment, was diagnosed with leukemia, and four days later began radiation and chemotherapy treatments that ravaged her immune system. She fought off the fungal pneumonia and internal infections that followed. Finding a lucky match, Banuelos' sister Mary Eiselle donated stem cells that were injected into her bone marrow.

“Until it touches you or someone you know, you truly don't know what's going on,” Banuelos said.

Happy to be alive and outside, Banuelos was joined on the track by her 13-year-old daughter.

The children of Lompoc musician Jonathan Wild, who was diagnosed with throat cancer last year, also celebrated life by attending the Relay.

“Right now, his (Jonathan Wild) cancer is gone,” said Wild's daughter, Shelby Brown, as part of the opening ceremony.

Currently in recovery, Wild is expected to put in an appearance at next year's Relay, his daughter said.

Remember

Another newcomer to the Relay for Life was Dave Baker, and the team of Dr. T's Family Chiropractic. Baker, whose wife is the eponymous Dr. T, said cancer had affected enough family members and friends amongst Dr. T employees that the support for a full team was strong.

“We wanted to come out and support the cause, and always to remember those that are gone,” Baker said, wearing one of his team's red T-shirts, listing the names of loved ones - survivors and those less fortunate.

After sunset on Saturday, luminarias were lit, each one commemorating a loved one lost to cancer. Some ringed the track, lighting the way for walkers, who continue though the night. Others spelled out the word “hope” in the visitors' bleachers.

Fight back

DeWees, a 16-year cancer survivor of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, said he was proud that Lompoc's Relay event raises the most money, per capita, of any community in Santa Barbara County.

The mayor said that the widespread number of people touched by the disease made the Relay for Life a natural response.

“We are all affected by it. Let's fix it,” DeWees said.

Each team sought to attract, entertain and raise funds from walkers. Some held raffles for everything from spa treatment baskets, to cords of firewood. Others offered food and drink for fellow walkers. One booth included free sunscreen and sun safety information, fitting for the sunny day.

Past the booths sat the American Cancer Society's Cancer Prevention Study-3 (CPS-3) tent. During the relay, interested adults without cancer were encouraged to sign up for a long-term cancer study that could help find more causes and cures.

“Fight back” will also be the theme of the closing ceremony, and final lap, at 9 a.m. today.

Glenn Wallace can be reached at 737-1059 or

gwallace@lompocrecord.com.

May 18, 2008