Northeast Colorado Relay For Life cut short by storm

    The Relay For Life of Northeast Colorado was cut short Saturday, June 8, by inclement weather.
    At a little after 8 p.m., with lightning lighting up the sky, the event leaders made the decision to call off the rest of the evening and send participants home.
    Prior to that, the fundraiser for the American Cancer Society had been a successful one. Over $45,000 has been raised so far, with the fundraising deadline coming later this summer.
    The event kicked off Saturday afternoon with an opening ceremony that featured honorary survivor Michelle Williams sharing the story of her battle with brain cancer that began three years ago. Her symptoms came on suddenly, but she put off seeing a doctor for a few days.
    When she went in to the emergency room, she ended up having a CT scan and MRI. The doctors had to consult with specialists in Greeley to interpret the results and determine that she had a brain tumor at the age of 26.
    “I had just gotten married, was planning on starting a family,” she said.
    Instead, she visited a neurosurgeon in Greeley, who ended up referring her to UC Health in Denver due to the location of the tumor.
    Williams underwent a 10-hour surgery to remove the tumor. She had to be awake and talking the entire time.
    Two weeks later, the results of the biopsy were in: a grade 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma. “But don’t worry; that’s the good kind of brain cancer,” she was told.
    She had to complete six weeks of radiation therapy and daily oral chemo, then a year of maintenance chemo.
    Then, she had a seizure that left her partially paralyzed. After her initial recovery back at UC Health, she went through physical therapy to recover use of the right side of her body.
    Nine months later, she had another seizure, this one worse than the first. She is still undergoing therapy to recover from the effects of that seizure, hoping to regain some of her independence.
    In addition, she still has at least two years before she is officially “in the clear” from her cancer diagnosis.
    “Hopefully, I will be able to say I’m cancer-free someday,” she said. “I’m too young; anyone’s too young.”
    Williams received a plaque and bouquet of flowers before leading the way in the survivors lap around the track to officially open the Relay. The lap began with Relay participants releasing balloons, some of which carried messages of remembrance or hope.
    The event also included music provided by Zzone Entertainment and a pulled pork meal donated by Black Top Jacks and served by the Sterling Lions Club. The NJC Young Farmers chapter held a human tractor pull, with teams of five pulling a tractor 100 feet for the fastest time. That event raised $450 for the Relay.
    Due to the storm, the group was unable to hold its luminaria ceremony, which includes lighting the luminaria that line the track and a slideshow depicting the names of those remembered and honored on the bags. And the closing ceremony was also canceled; however, event co-chair Tracy Glissmann announced later that the traveling team trophy went to Team Hradecky.