The first ever Canadian Cancer Society’s Grand Bay-Westfield Relay for Life will be held on Friday, June 11th from 7pm to 7am on the running track at River Valley Middle School. The Relay for Life is a 12 hour celebration of survival, a tribute to the lives of loves ones and a night of fun, friendship and fund-raising to make cancer history. You can Celebrate the Survivors’ victory lap,  be inspired by the luminary ceremony, enjoy activities and entertainment, all the while knowing you are supporting a great cause.

In the months leading up to the Relay for Life we’ll be publishing the stories of cancer survivors from this community. These are the personal experiences, told in their own words, of friends and neighbours who have battled cancer. We begin the series with cancer survivor Rachel Quinn of Grand Bay-Westfield.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 2005. About a month before, I knew there was something wrong. I sensed that my body wasn’t right. Once I was diagnosed, I quickly had surgery, a mastectomy. I had a month to recover and then jumped right into chemo and after another short break, started radiation.

It’s a horrible feeling, the worst feeling I ever had in my life. You’re terrified. You feel threatened with your survival, you’re terrified for your kids and your husband. It’s a total loss of control because you think how could this possibly happen to me. It just can’t be happening. There’s certainly denial for a period of time. It’s just a terrible thing to be told that you have it. I think that’s the worst part of the whole thing, being told that you have it and facing it yourself.

You do feel very defeated, physically, emotionally and spiritually but you just have to fight your way back up. As a survivor you have to look at those areas of your life and work your way back up again. You have to come to terms with it. It might not be good news for you but you have to face it and deal with it.

The treatments were really hard. There are harder things for people to deal with but it’s not easy. I was really sick with all the chemo. The surgery was no big deal but the chemo was the hardest thing. It’s hard for your kids to watch you go through that. Whenever I had chemo, the kids would be away just for the first few days after I came home until the worst of it was over.

I still go in for check-ups and each time you feel slightly more confident. It’s been five years for me. I still get a little uneasy feeling. I spent five years surviving and working at survival. After you’re hit with something like this, I realized I had to change some things in my life, physically, emotionally, spiritually and I still work at those things every day. I can’t forget that I have had it. I want to move on but you have to work hard at your health. I think about it every day.

I was asked to speak as a cancer survivor at a Relay for Life event in Saint John a year after being diagnosed. I hesitated to do that because I knew I would be very emotional. It was still very close at that time but I felt I had to push myself through that. I made myself do it. My main message was to say thank you to the runners and walkers for doing this. There is so much people don’t know about cancer and prevention and I think we all have to become more aware. There is so much that can be done with any money that is raised.

Cancer is close to everyone. We think it’s not going to happen to us but it can happen. I believe, after being a survivor for five years, that there can be a lot less cancer in the world. I think the things that should be done are more preventative. Treatment is necessary but I think there’s so much out there about preventing cancer in the first place that people don’t know about and we have to educate ourselves about it. That is so important.

The organizers are seeking teams to make the very first Grand Bay-Westfield Relay for Life a success so please join with friends, family and colleagues and register as a team.

By joining us, you’re helping to make cancer history. Interested teams please contact Jim Balcomb at 738-8441 or by email:  jim@harriganinsurance.ca. Cancer survivors wishing to participate are asked to email Erika Kelly at erikakellyrelay@ymail.com.

For further information or to register online please visit:  www.cancer.ca

The first ever Canadian Cancer Society’s Grand Bay-Westfield Relay for Life will be held on Friday, June 11th from 7pm to 7am on the running track at River Valley Middle School. The Relay for Life is a 12 hour celebration of survival, a tribute to the lives of loves ones and a night of fun, friendship and fund-raising to make cancer history. You can Celebrate the Survivors’ victory lap,  be inspired by the luminary ceremony, enjoy activities and entertainment, all the while knowing you are supporting a great cause. In the months leading up to the Relay for Life we’ll be publishing the stories of cancer survivors from this community. These are the personal experiences, told in their own words, of friends and neighbours who have battled cancer. We begin the series with cancer survivor Rachel Quinn of Grand Bay-Westfield.

I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January of 2005. About a month before, I knew there was something wrong. I sensed that my body wasn’t right. Once I was diagnosed, I quickly had surgery, a mastectomy. I had a month to recover and then jumped right into chemo and after another short break, started radiation.

It’s a horrible feeling, the worst feeling I ever had in my life. You’re terrified. You feel threatened with your survival, you’re terrified for your kids and your husband. It’s a total loss of control because you think how could this possibly happen to me. It just can’t be happening. There’s certainly denial for a period of time. It’s just a terrible thing to be told that you have it. I think that’s the worst part of the whole thing, being told that you have it and facing it yourself.

You do feel very defeated, physically, emotionally and spiritually but you just have to fight your way back up. As a survivor you have to look at those areas of your life and work your way back up again. You have to come to terms with it. It might not be good news for you but you have to face it and deal with it.

The treatments were really hard. There are harder things for people to deal with but it’s not easy. I was really sick with all the chemo. The surgery was no big deal but the chemo was the hardest thing. It’s hard for your kids to watch you go through that. Whenever I had chemo, the kids would be away just for the first few days after I came home until the worst of it was over.

I still go in for check-ups and each time you feel slightly more confident. It’s been five years for me. I still get a little uneasy feeling. I spent five years surviving and working at survival. After you’re hit with something like this, I realized I had to change some things in my life, physically, emotionally, spiritually and I still work at those things every day. I can’t forget that I have had it. I want to move on but you have to work hard at your health. I think about it every day.

I was asked to speak as a cancer survivor at a Relay for Life event in Saint John a year after being diagnosed. I hesitated to do that because I knew I would be very emotional. It was still very close at that time but I felt I had to push myself through that. I made myself do it. My main message was to say thank you to the runners and walkers for doing this. There is so much people don’t know about cancer and prevention and I think we all have to become more aware. There is so much that can be done with any money that is raised.

Cancer is close to everyone. We think it’s not going to happen to us but it can happen. I believe, after being a survivor for five years, that there can be a lot less cancer in the world. I think the things that should be done are more preventative. Treatment is necessary but I think there’s so much out there about preventing cancer in the first place that people don’t know about and we have to educate ourselves about it. That is so important.

The organizers are seeking teams to make the very first Grand Bay-Westfield Relay for Life a success so please join with friends, family and colleagues and register as a team. By joining us, you’re helping to make cancer history. Interested teams please contact Jim Balcomb at 738-8441 or by email:  jim@harriganinsurance.ca. Cancer survivors wishing to participate are asked to email Erika Kelly at erikakellyrelay@ymail.com. For further information or to register online please visit:  www.cancer.ca