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Relay for Life ambassadors shine spotlight on cancer fight

By Tara Rack-Amber trackamber@heraldstandard.Com 4 min read

On Aug. 8, people will gather in Uniontown to honor, encourage and continue the fight against cancer at the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.

This year’s event will see a few changes, but the honored tradition of relay will remain the same.

“There is a new place, new location, new people, new teams. The event is going to be only a 12-hour event this year,” said Lisa Rose, one of the co-chairpersons for this year’s event along with Barb Yalich Fike and Gino Mollica.

The relay will be held at the Third Presbyterian Church, Union Street, Uniontown from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. instead of its traditional 24 hours.

“We tried to change it to 12 hours to get a feel to see if people like the 12. We can always go back to the 24,” explained Rose. “There are a lot of different relay events throughout the area. Some do 12 some do 18, and we thought we would try it out and see how it works.”

Serving as ambassadors and beacons of hope are Jeanne Conaway of Union-town and Paige Jarrett of Smithfield.

While both of these women have been affected by cancer, their individual stories are unique.

Conaway was diagnosed June 17, 2012. She had intraductal carcinoma, breast cancer. It was stage two, grade three and it was fast moving and growing.

“My husband and I wanted to get a lumpectomy, and we researched everything and I did a double mastectomy with reconstruction,” she said. “I ended up doing chemo because if I didn’t I had a 30 percent chance of it coming back.”

Conaway is currently in remission, and despite the trial of going through cancer, she stayed positive.

“It has been really such a blessing. So many good things came out of it than bad. I am so grateful to have a second chance. Know you can get through it. Sometimes you have to take it minute by minute. The best thing is the sisterhood with other survivors. I have had so many people call. I had over 700 cards, my family ate for months and never cooked a meal,” she said. “I never wore a scarf or a wig or anything. I wanted to show that God heals without screaming God heals.”

Just like Conaway, Jarrett has experienced a blessing despite battling cancer.

“I was 16, and I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer (in July 2011). I had to do six rounds of chemotherapy senior year in high school. I lost all of my hair. It was pretty traumatizing,” said Jarrett who is a graduate of Albert Gallatin Area High School. “I have been cancer free for three years. They didn’t think I was able to have children because I have only one ovary and they say your chance of conceiving is little.”

However, Jarrett beat the odds and gave birth to her daughter, Adalynn Faith, just a month ago.

“I would say keep your head up. It is going to be hard, but you have to see it as a bump in a road,” she said. “You have to live your life to the fullest; that is for sure.”

Because of stories like Conaway and Jarrett’s people continue to return to relay to help in the fight against cancer.

“One-hundred and ten thousand dollars (was) raised last year. I think this year we set our goal at $120,000, and we set our goal at 35 teams and 250 people registered. We are doing really well. Right now we have 33 teams registered 241 participants registered so far, and we have raised $60,774.34,” said Rose.

In addition to raising money, Jarrett and Conaway hope the event continues to raise awareness.

“It raises a lot of money. It raises awareness, and I think we need awareness nowadays,” said Jarrett. “It (cancer) has always been around, but I hear about it a lot more in younger people.”

“Awareness is huge and the Relay for Life is a platform to do that,” said Conaway. “Detection is key. That is what I always say. So many of my friends have called and said thank you for getting my mammogram.”

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