Page 5 - RELAY FOR LIFE 2013 -- An LDN Publication

2013 RELAY FOR LIFE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com jUNE 17, 2013
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The co-chairs for this year’s event -- Amy
Weidhuner, Nicole Lee and Tabitha Weidhuner
-- offered some opening remarks.
As the three young women completed their
comments, they ended their time onstage by
doing a remarkable thing. Nicole Lee shared that
in honor of the night, she was going to ask her
two companions on stage to cut her long, brown
hair. The hair would then be donated to Locks
of Love, an organization that provides wigs
and hairpieces to children suffering any type of
disease that results in hair loss.
All three of these young women are cancer
survivors, so this was an emotional event for all
of them, as well as for many in the audience. As
first one of her co-chairs took the scissors, and
then the next, one snip at a time they cut Lee’s
hair right at her neckline while a tearful audience
watched and finally boomed with cheers and
applause when the “tail,” which was more than a
foot long, was shown to the group.
Next came the introduction of the honorary co-
chairs for this year: Robin Ingram and Bill Post.
They led the survivors lap while Penny McIntosh
sang a contemporary version of “This Little Light
of Mine.”
As thesurvivorspassedthroughtheredinflatable
starting line, they were handed carnations. Many
walked hand in hand, with more than a few tears,
but also hundreds of smiles for each other and
those on the sidelines who cheered them on.
Sheralyn Bolton was the soloist for the second
lap, honoring caregivers. This lap honored those
who have offered front-line support for cancer
fighters. The caregivers joined their survivors
on the track while Bolton sang Amy Grant’s “I
Will BeYour Friend” and “You’ve Got a Friend,”
accompanied by Michael Gowin on the guitar.
The third special lap this year was a new one for
the Logan County Relay For Life: a kids lap for
all children ages 10 and under. As several little
ones took to the track, guest soloist Laurin Hill
sang “Everything Is Beautiful.”
The next lap was the team lap, with each team
introduced and taking to the track while Sauer
read brief comments about each team.
The final early lap was the everyone lap, when
everyone on the grounds was supposed to take
one lap around the track. During this lap, Bolton
delivered the “fight back” message. In her
message she reminded the group that today 2 out
of 3 victims of cancer become survivors of cancer,
but that is still not good enough. She said that they
as a group should continue to work, continue to
fight until 3 out of 3 victims are survivors.
The rest of the evening, team members would
take turns so that at least one or two members of
each team were walking all night long.
In addition to walking, plenty of other activities
were going on. There was a silent auction on
one side of the track, and Mike Maske of Mike
Maske Auction Service in Mount Pulaski did
a live auction of several nice items donated by
individuals and local businesses.
Special music continued through the night, with
professional singer and cancer survivor Monica
Hay offering some lovely vocals. The TRASH
band from Lincoln Christian Church also took
to the stage, delighting folks with music that was
performed on a variety of items that many would
have called “trash” for sure.
There was also a square dance called by Ron
Betzelberger, line dancing with Suzanne Gowin,
fun dances -- YMCA, chicken dance, hula hoop
and cha-cha -- a limbo contest and jump-rope