mesothelioma

By Preston Knight -- pknight@nvdaily.com

WOODSTOCK -- Cancer has different ways of affecting people and, for heartwarming and tragic reasons, Wanda Wakeman knows all about it.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 14 years ago, Wakeman, 71, of Toms Brook, has lived a pretty healthy life since learning she had the disease. She was labeled a "miracle" by her doctor, she said.

"I guess just faith," Wakeman said was the trick.

But her survival -- she felt tired and had been gaining weight, prompting her to go see her doctor and learn of the cancer -- has been countered with two personal losses. A friend had the same illness and died, Wakeman said, and her husband, Stanley, 81, died eight years ago only three weeks after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

These experiences show the range of effects -- from survival to near-immediate death -- cancer can have, and is why hundreds of people came to the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds on Friday for the 14th annual Relay for Life, the American Cancer Society's major fundraiser. More than $103,000 had been raised locally before the event began at 6 p.m. It was scheduled to last until 8 a.m. today, with food, music, walking and more planned.

The goal is to raise $250,000, said Ruth Garretson, who coordinates events for survivors. The relay raised around $228,000 last year, which was a $10,000 increase from the previous year.

For survivors such as Wakeman, the support means everything.

"I am very thankful," she said.

People of all ages get involved. Allison Wilkin, 10, is with a relay team from First Baptist Church in Woodstock. She said she enjoyed fundraising, particularly a candy sale.

"We get to raise money to find a cure for cancer," Allison said.

The church's youth leader, Anne-Marie Overstreet, said the team has increased in number each year, and more than 40 people were expected Friday. She said she got involved to get her own children and the church's youth to be a part of something positive.

The participation took on extra meaning last year, though, when a church member's diagnosis of cancer served as a "wake-up call," Overstreet said.

"That's when the team started getting big," she said.

Overstreet planned to sing the "stalker" song -- "Every Breath You Take" by the Police -- during karaoke around 3 a.m.

Adina McInturff, a math teacher at Stonewall Jackson High School, had a team of about 20 people, called the Old Ladies' Brigade, on hand. Several members are cancer survivors, she said.

"They found out in time," McInturff said.

The team had raised more than $6,000 as of Friday evening.

The Warriors, a relay team from Christian youth group Hands and Feet, had raised $1,500 and counting. One member, Blake Foltz, 20, of Edinburg, is a survivor of neuroblastoma, a cancer affecting the stomach and kidneys. He was born with it, got rid of it and then had a reoccurrence two years ago.

"Now I'm good," Foltz said.

And with the help of everyone in attendance Friday, he has an even better chance of staying that way.

"It's pretty cool that people come out and put an effort into something like this," Foltz said.