Survivors share a bond
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Whether it was their first time walking in a 'Victory Lap' or their fourth, participants in Langton's bi-annual elementary school Relay for Life shared a bond.
"This was my first time," said Rick Strouth, from Tillsonburg, who had bladder cancer in 2010.
"I lost my bladder – they removed it," said Strouth. "Once it's removed, it (cancer) all goes out, so I was cancer-free at that time. It has changed my life, but the guys in London were just fantastic."
"The thing about getting cancer in Canada when you're retired, there are grants out there to help you finance it," said Rick's wife Linda Strouth. "An Ontario Trillium grant helped pay for the chemotherapy. That's what struck me during the O Canada song because I thought, 'you know what, it could have been financially devastating.'"
The Survivor Lap is a special event at Langton's Relay for Life where students line the inside of the track, clapping, cheering, and showing encouragement to the survivors.
"It was absolutely fantastic," said Strouth. "The kids were just wonderful, enthusiastic, polite... things you don't see much any more. It was really, really refreshing."
He also enjoyed the student entertainment provided during opening ceremonies Friday morning.
"The kids who did the music were right on. The songs were great, the quality of their vocals was just so surprising."
Langton's Chantal Vandesompele, 25, a Sacred Heart School grad, has had cancer multiple times. Friday's Relay for Life was her fourth.
"It's been 16 years that I've been going up and down through this," said Vandesompele, who had her last relapse in 2010 after a stem cell transplant. "And today is one of those really big ups."
Because she had taken so much chemotherapy and radiation over the years, the doctors had to find out how much they could give her in 2010-11 because she was approaching her physical limits.
"That one, I think, out of all my diagnoses, that was probably my toughest one. But, knock on wood, everything's been going good since."
LANGTON RELAY FOR LIFE PHOTO GALLERY
Karen Volkaert, from Simcoe, battled cancer in 2000.
"I had two surgeries and radiation therapy after," said Volkaert, who has had cancer in her family including her mother (twice), her father (three times), sister, aunt and uncle.
"Well acquainted with the disease," she nodded. "My dad, he fought back from two cancers. When he was in his 80s he got esophagus cancer – just two years after he had survived seven bypasses. He had the strength to pull through the heart surgeries, at 82, and then he died from cancer after that.
"I'm over that part now, but you feel very vulnerable."
Volkaert walked a lap Friday morning with Mary Fody, who had grandchildren at the Relay (Volkaert's niece and nephew).
"It's a good cause, and it's awareness," said Volkaert. "Think about how many people are surviving this now, that weren't surviving. I think these (Relays) make a difference."
"I think it opens their eyes as to what the children can do," said Fody.
Recently retired Langton teacher Kaye Nicholls, first diagnosed with breast cancer in March 2006, has been attending the local elementary school Relay since the first in 2008, which was dedicated to the memory of Sacred Heart teacher Gail DeWaele.
"Gail DeWaele and I were really good friends," said Nicholls. "She was a lot of fun, a dedicated teacher. I worked with her quite a while and we emailed back and forth. When she had cancer, I would send her little jokes and stuff. I introduced her to someone else who had the same cancer."
In 2007, Nicholls discovered she had a different type of breast cancer.
"Which was good – it was a different type, which meant it (her first cancer) hadn't spread. The first time, I had surgery, chemo, radiation... pretty much a whole year by the time I was done.
"I walked my first Relay for Life (in Tillsonburg) in 2006 when I was going through treatment, so I just did the Survivor Lap. Since 2007, I've been on a team (ABC – After Breast Cancer) and stayed all night. The team has been there since Tillsonburg Relay started, and before that, they walked about three years or so in Woodstock. One of the members was instrumental in getting Tillsonburg Relay going. People said Tillsonburg would never be able to do something so great, but she knew Steve Kyle had just retired and she said 'give Steve Kyle a call.' And... Tillsonburg's Relay is awesome! He still is 'the man.'"
Being a teacher, Langton's elementary school Relay still holds a special place in her heart.
"The Survivor Lap is good for the young kids to see. We had at least three students from here (Sacred Heart) who had cancer, two of them several times.
"It's great to see the kids," she smiled. "For me, just retired, I was swarmed by kids today."