Relay for Life 2011

     
     I had formed a team "Farley's Angels" to participate in the event Relay for Life Evergreen Park/Beverly on Saturday July 16, 2011.  This was not my first Relay for Life but this one meant more to me than any I have participated in the past.  Farley's Angels was to honor our dear Ed Farley who succumb to cancer on March 5, 2011 at the age of 60.  Ed was a special person not only in my life and a part of my family's life but many others too. He had a way of making everyone feel extraordinary.  In our family Ed was more than just a family friend since the beginning of time, he was family.  My daughter Anna knew him as Uncle Ed and she was his "AGB".  All thru my life Ed was always supportive of the many humanitarian tasks I love to do - so back in January when we visited Ed, I thought we could do this walk together.  Sadly that is not what God had in mind.  Being determined to honor Ed and maybe help another family from suffering the way mine and all of Ed's friends have suffered, I decided to form this team.

Team Farley's Angels tent

     As this was our inaugural year, I was so pleased with our turn out!  It made me so proud of our team.  You  could see how many lives Ed touched.  We had a tremendous amount of support in donations and the number of friends that came out to walk with us was amazing.  And not only did people come out and walk they stayed and walked!  And the weather that day only cooperated by not raining and gave us a little breeze; it was HOT!  

Bag from Anna, Izzy and Bubby to Uncle Ed that was lining the track

     
     As I have mentioned we were there to honor Ed but many people on my team also were honoring family members that had suffered from this disease and we also had a survivor join our team.  All in all this event is an experience that people should truly try to experience.  You have families there, friends there and you make friendships with strangers because you have all come together for one main goal -To hopefully some day see an end to cancer.  Some of the stories of other walkers were also sad stories but then there were the few tucked in there of hope and survival.  This was an event I was glad to share with Anna; she loved walking around and then when the Luminiaria ceremony was over and we did a lap in silence to honor all, she in her own way even honored those who had passed.  She told my parents and I that the bags were beautiful.  Even though the walk has only been over for a few days; I look forward to participating in this event for many years to come.