Dr. Purcell Leads the Way!

(I have my postings in reverse order.)
After the survivor lap, the team lap begins. This year there were about 204 teams. Each team participates in the lap. Billings Clinic Cancer Center was the first team to start. Dr. Purcell,
my Oncology Doctor, (hopefully not for much longer) is on the far left. He is AWESOME!
Some teams are very creative with their themes and costumes and "getups". Like First Interstate Bank did a baseball theme with scoreboard and everything. All their shirts said someone like "knocking cancer out of the park". It was neat to see all the ideas. There were also tables and tables of donated items for the silent auctions.

I plan to post of few more pics in the next few days.

Survivor Lap

Here I am being silly, although you can't tell much, at the start of the survivor lap which consisted of making on lap around the Billings West track around the football field. We were all given a red rose before the lap. It is quite impressive as the outside and especially the inside of the track was packed with 1000's of people and they all stopped what they were doing and applauded everyone as they walked by. It was like 20 min of non-stop applause!

Relay For Life 2007

I participated in my 2nd Relay For Life this past July. It was another fun and emotionally filled evening to celebrate surviving cancer and remember and honoring those fighting the disease and those that have died.
Last year the event raised $525,000 and this years goal was $550,000. In a span of 17 hours the goal was reached and exceeded with a total of $640,000!!!!!!!!!!! What is great is this money is suppose to stay at the local American Cancer Society. That amount of money sure says a lot about the generosity of the people and buisness's of Yellowstone County.

The 1st pic is the survivor dinner which I participated in along with my Mom. Last year there were approx. 500 participants, and this year the number grew to around 700!
700 people is a lot, but when you think of the thousands of people that don't make it each day, it is so sad. To put that in perspective, the number of people that die from cancer each day is like having a 9/11 everyday!!! It is sad to see young kids at the dinner and in the survivor lap... BUT they are survivors!

The 2nd pic is Mom and I at the dinner. I look wasted as it was very hot inside the gym and I had on my survivor shirt we all received. I later took off my first shirt!

The 3rd pic are the survivors gathering at the start of the opening ceremonies and survivor lap.